


Crystalisation

by Jetstorm



Series: Union [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Codex Entries, F/F, Non-Consensual Body Modification, The Reaper War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:26:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 61
Words: 89,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22292536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jetstorm/pseuds/Jetstorm
Summary: AU, where Shona Shepard was retrieved from Alchera, before the Blue Suns and without the need for Liara's assistance and where Shepard went through a far different Collector mission experience with a new crew with absolutely no contact with her old crew, albeit with a similar ending, her new crew staying loyal and breaking away from Cerberus. Now after 3 years Shona meets the love of her life again
Relationships: Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Series: Union [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667533
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	1. Anguished Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at anything like this, so please go easy
> 
> Shona is Scots Gaelic for Jane
> 
> In this story, a lot of the conversations featuring only 2 people will have the initiatives person speech followed by a comma and a space then respondative person speech, for example
> 
> "first person's speech", "second person's reply", "first person's response", "second person's reaction" and so on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance team investigating an Asari monastery comes across that long thought absent

They had carefully went through the Reaper infested monastery witnessing their digusting transformation of not only the former residents, but also the transformation of the poor souls that were turned into the Reaper spawn that were sent there. The team consisting of Garrus, Liara, Tali, Ashley, Vega and few Alliance marines were led by Alenko through the monastery, at first being eeringly quiet except for a few distant unholy screams, the first indication of what was to come was when they saw a Cannibal being shot by an Asari in revealing red armour, "I am Samara of the Justicar Order, here to assertain the status of my daughters who live here" Liara replied by asking "What have you managed to find? To which Samara sadily, but still controlled, answered, "Only that Reapers infested this place before I arrived", the meeting was interrupted by a scream that was much louder than before, "Go, I will draw these creatures off" Samara said to the Alliance crew

They didn't have long to find out the source of the screams as a horrifying vision appeared before them, a Reaper tansformed Asari gave out a deafening scream and hurled a powerful warp at the crew to which Vega warned the crew to get behind cover, thankfully the Banshee did not last long against the crew and the Cannibals that followed were easily dispatched, Liara lamented "That used to a person, an Asari, what have the Reapers done?". The crew met up again with Samara and her daughter who explained more about the situation before they split up to find out he fates of possible survivors, the crew again fought against another Banshee and it's accompanying Reaper spawn, although they had to change tact this time as the Banshee came along with the spawn, the result was the same as before and now the real horror would begin

After the small battle Tali open a door that led to a room that had a dead Asari Huntress slumped on what looked like a set of explosives and another creature examining the Asari and the explosives. The creature turned to face the opening door, which revealed Tali, who came to a sudden stop and bluttered in shock "KEELAH, do not let Liara see this". Alenko responded to the distressed Quarian with concern "What's wrong Tali?, then he along with Garrus saw what caused Tali to be so shocked. Garrus backed up Tali's statement by saying "she's right, don't let Liara see this" as both he and Alenko pulled up and held their rifles at the creature. Liara, now indignant, barrelled her way through and replied " I have just seen my own people turned into abominations, what possibly...............OH, GODDESS, NO....." There in front of her she saw her lost bondmate, who still had the same long dark hair as before, but whose skin that was a delicate porcelain was now a pale parlour with angry webbings of red glowing scars that indicated heavy cybernetics and worse was the eyes on her lost bondmate, instead of the piercing, but soulful amethyst eyes, was now a pupil less red electronic glow. The sight was beyond anything of their worst nightmares and they had seen the devastation the Reapers had caused on Earth and Palaven as well as heard what happened to Khar'Shan. They had even seen the creatures they made from the victims they captured, but all that paled in comparison to what they had to witness here, here they came face to face with someone, who they all had loved as friend and for many the desire to be more and for one it was, that had been turned into what looked like a Reaper's creature. Kaiden gave the order "take a defensive position", all of them were inwardly enraged, but kept their calm, all except for Liara

The usually demure and collected Asari lost all composure at seeing this horror and lit up her biotics like a wild blue electric storm, "I'LL KILL THEM ALL, I'LL KILL THEM, I'LL KILL THEM", Liara screamed in a volume that could easily match the Banshees, "THEY TOOK HER AND TURNED HER INTO THIS TRAVESTY, I WILL END HER SUFFERING QUICKLY AND THEN BY THE GODDESS I WILL MAKE SURE THE REAPERS FINALLY KNOW REAL SUFFERING" Liara lit up for powerful warp to finish off the unfortunate creature in front of her to which Shepard responded by shouting in a concerned but hopeful voice "LIARA, STOP, PLEASE", but, unfortunately, Liara was incensed at what she was seeing and was deaf to the creatures pleas. All she could see was a monstorisity where her bondmate should be and she had every intention of correcting that by destroying the monster so that her bondmates anguished soul would be free to go to the goddess 

Garrus was outraged at what had became of his friend, he too, like Liara wanted to finish this mockery of all he had once aspired to be, of all who hear the call of duty should aspire to be. The one thing that kept grounded was that call to duty, the chain of command installed into Turians at bootcamp, he might not be a good Turian, but damn it, he was still Turian and he followed the command of someone who also followed that inspiration and that someone was also his friend and commanding officer. He would wait the command of his commanding officer despite what his heart was wanting him to do, he would do his duty and hopefuly his duty to his friend, if the call was for him to send his friend to the Spirits then he would answer that call, but he hoped that his friend was still with them

Tali looked at the terrifying scene before her and wept internally, she had been frightened many times before, but nothing like this, for it was mixed with hope, the hope of someone she considered like a elder sister being returned to her. Tali had hoped for that ever since she had heard about what happened to the Normandy in the Amada system, but that hope was now mixed with fear as the being who once helped a frightened young girl on her pilgrimage and helped her people by giving her a set of Geth codes was now before them not as she remembered her from the Normandy, but as a disfigured, but still quite beautiful apparition. She was fearful that this apparition that was her friend and inspiration was now nothing more than a corrupted monster

Ashley was grief stricken, she like Kaiden and Liara had been aboard the Normandy when it was attacked by an unknown vessel in the Amada system. They had been sent out to sweep any last pockets of Geth resistance when they were attacked and Shepard ordered them into lifepods while she went to find Joker. That was the last time she saw Shepard until now, at least she was hoping she was looking at Shepard and not some Reaper travesty, how she wanted the being in front of her to be Shepard, she, like the others, wanted her friend back with them, but she knew that the being could be nothing more than a twisted mockery of the person who helped her grow not only as a soldier, but as a person

Kaiden was the officer in charge of this mission to find out what happened to the Asari Huntresses that were sent to this monastery. He knew that it was more than likely that the Reapers would have infected this place, like they had so many others by creating more of their creatures. He saw that with the Banshees created out of the captive former residents of the monastery and now to his anguish he was possibly seeing what the Reapers done to his former commanding officer and friend. He was listening to Liara's tearful screams and looking to Shepard' reaction to Liara's tears. He focused on Shepard and saw her quivering eyes and wavering voice as she begged Liara, he knew then he needed to act

"LIARA, HOLD ON" shouted Kaiden in an attempt to calm the stricken maiden, but her grief and anger were making her deaf to his plea's, so he along with Garrus and Ashley had to physically restrain her with Kaiden grabbing the warp ready arm. "LET GO OF ME" Liara screamed to her squad mates, "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS SUFFERING TO CONTINUE, SHE MEANT THE WORLD TO ME AND I WILL NOT LET THIS ABOMINATION OF WHAT SHE WAS TO CARRY ON" she continued to scream through tear filled eyes. Shepard could no longer just sit there and listen to very person who was her centre to continue to work her self up, "Hey, hey, hey, Liara" she said in a soothing tone, "The Reapers never took me, I am not a husk, everything is going to be Ok". Liara with a choking sob responded "Why should I believe you, you look so different" Shepard had to admit that she was caught out there, "Yeah, I know and there is a reason for that and that along with some other things I have to tell you and the others are not things you're going to like, but know this you are my world and without the hope of ever meeting you again I would never gotten through the last year" Liara shocked, but somewhat more calmer, but not totally, replied "Last year?, you were gone 3 years" Ah" said Shona, " the reason for that is going to be one of things you not going to like, but you will need to hear".

CODEX ENTRY

SQUAD

A squad is a military unit of 5 to 14 individuals that can be lead by anyone with the equivalent rank to corporal. Major Alenko and Commander Shepard would be able to take whole battalions on to the field, which are around 300 to 800 individuals, of course that would be highly impractical on this type of mission


	2. Continuing Mission - Part 1 - Small? Revalations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is still a mission in the Lessus monastery that must be finished

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shona is Sentinel class, Spacer, Sole Survivor

Kaiden knowing that there was still a mission to continue interrupted the brief reuniting of the angst ridden Shona and the sobbing Liara by bringing out a pair of omni cuffs for a biotic prisoner. "What are you doing, Kaiden?" asked Liara through decreasing sobs, "I am sorry, Liara,I am going to have to take her in". He reached out to Shepard with great regret to place the cuffs on her, "I am sorry, Shepard, I have to do this" Shepard gave him an understanding look, "I know". Kaiden then went into an almost militaristic drone like mode and called for 2 of the Alliance squad members, "Nelson, Vasquez, atten-hut". 2 burly marines stepped fowards towards Kaiden, Liara and Shona. Kaiden then ordered "Nelson, Vasquez, secure the prisoners weapons" The 2 marines proceed to strip Shepard of her weapons which included a Carnifex, a Locust, a Mattock and a strange looking semi organic weapon.

Kaiden like the the others was intrigued by this strange looking weapon and had to ask "What's this?" Shepard answered " A Collector Particle Beam heavy weapon", "I picked it up when we fought the poor bastards on Horizon". Kaiden along with Ashley had went to Horizon after recieving a distress call from the colony, but had arrived far too late and had been told of a strange crew that had fought off bug like invaders who were snatching the colonists away by survivors of the attack. Kaiden had thought that the colonists recount of what happened had been pure stress brought about by witnessing so many of their fellow colonists being taken away, but now he knew that was not the case. "Collectors?" he asked Shepard, "Yeah, Collectors" Shepard regrettibly answered him, "They were attacking human colonies through out the Terminus Systems" Vega then came to the small group and said "I and a small group fought them when they attacked Fehl Prime, I lost my commanding officer, my whole crew and the entire colony except for one asari to these bastards, but we managed to destroy their ship and got intelligence that turned out to be as useful as a chocolate fireguard going by what the Alliance did with it, what made it worse is that one of the colonists was a Cerberus sleeper agent trying to cut a deal with the Collectors": He then continued "We saw colonists locked in strange pods, I tried to get one of them out, a small girl called April, but it was too late we had to leave with the intelligence and the ship crashed on the planet"

Shepard now starting to lose her own compusure turned to Vega, "Be thankful, that the ship crashed on the planet and that they were not taken away, but we got vengance for the colonists and for what the Collectors once were". "THANKFUL?" Vega asked incrediously. Shepard then realised she was starting to reveal far too much far too soon, but she now knew she would have no choice but to continue, "You didn't see what they did with these colonists, we found out when we attacked their base beyond the Omega 4 relay" and right there again Shepard instantly regretted opening her mouth when she clearly heard Liara losing it once more, "OMEGA 4 RELAY?, GODDESS". Shepard's chin dropped to her chin to her chest in regret on hearing her centre's anguish, but had to listen to Liara continue "no one has ever came back from the Omega 4 relay", "It's obvious we did" trying to comfort Liara, but Liara was too shocked to be fully comforted. Vega then butted back in asked about what they did with the colonists and what the Collectors once were, Shepard with great pain, emotionally answered "They were melting the colonists into a grey paste and pumping their genetic material through large tubes to a central chamber", "Why?" Vega then asked in near disbelief, Shepard then continued "The Collectors are not some mysterious mythical race like most in the galaxy believes, they are the husk form of the Protheans and the were instructed by the Reapers to gather as many humans as possible, the Reapers are not mere metallic constructs, they use the genetic material of organic beings in the construction of their ships". Liara was stunned at hearing what else had befellen the people she took so much of her time to study, she asked "Shona, the Collectors were once Protheans"? Shepard answered "yes", Liara then countered "what proof do you have of this"? Shepard kept a steady look on her, but was forlorn inside and answered "we took a DNA sample from a Collector body on a Collector ship, it had quad strand DNA and it matched to DNA only found on Prothean ruins"

There was a tidal wave of shock spread throughout the group at those revalations and Kaiden knew right there he had to bring it to a halt before he lost all control, "Commander Shona Shepard, I, by the authority vested in me by Alliance command take you into custody", "Nelson, Vasquez, take the prisoner and secure her in shuttle 1. After he saw Shepard being led away, to which she gave no protest, not that she had any intentions of, he then turned to Tali and told her "take Liara to the second shuttle and stay with her, she is in no fit state to carry on with the mission, to which Tali replied " you got it". When Tali managed to convince Liara to come with her, Kaiden turned to the remainder of the squad to continue the grim task of the mission.

Tali on the way to the shuttle asked Liara "do you think it's really her, I mean all of her?", Liara still affected by how she saw Shona in the monastery answered "I hope so, because when I said that I would make the Reapers suffer, I meant it, I know that I was in hysterics, but believe me when I say that even if it costs my own life, I will avenge her if she is no longer who she was". Tali could feel the raw emotion coming from Liara not that she could blame her, Shepard was more than a commanding officer, more than a friend to her, she was like an elder sister she never had, they grown quite close to each other and if the Reapers had turned Shepard into one of their creatures she would join Liara on her quest to make sure that the Reapers were not only destroyed, but that they suffered so much that they begged for it


	3. Continuing Mission Part 2 - The Great Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining squad carry on with the mission in the Reaper infested Ardat Yakshi monastery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shona although greatly in love with Liara is not a lesbian, her previous relationships had been with males

It is often said that the longest journey is started by a single step, well for Kaiden and Garrus the opposite was now true as their long jourhey without their commander, best friend and greatest influence was seemingly at an end, but the first step in confirm this was only about to begin. Kaiden led the squad, now down by a third with Tali, Liara, Nelson and Vasquez being sent back to the shuttles after the reuniting with Shepard or at least a close approximation of Shepard, the full truth was yet to be determined, into the lift between the room where they met Shepard and the Great Hall. The fact that they were down by a third was a small mercy in the ascending lift as the full dozen with their armour and gear would be cramped in the confining space of the lift. The lift quickly ascended to the Great Hall and the squad got out, "there's our bomb" exclaimed Garrus, "and Samara and Falare" added Kaiden.

"Rila can you hear me?" asked a distressed Falare, "Falare, Rila cannot hear us, I am afraid she is not well" Samara tried to reason with her daughter. Rila laid slumped against the large bomb starring into the middle distance with Falare kneeling over her sister trying desperately to get her to respond "Rila, come on wake up, we've got to get out of here", "Falare" said Samara to her daughter, "she's not a monster, she is not one of them yet", Falare in hopeful denial was still adamant that they could take Rila with them. Samara knew the sad truth, then almost suddenly Rila appeared to come to and looked upon her sister with a serene look to which they both stood up together. Rila then put her hands to the side of her face , closed her eyes and put her head down, then suddenly opened them with them now being fully black and the face now being contorted causing Falare to gasp in shock. Rila then lunged towards her sister and tried to strangle her, Falare violently pushed off her sister throwing her to the floor, "why would she do that?" asked a shocked Falare, "I am afraid they got her, she is becoming one of the Reapers creatures" Samara answered her distressed daughter", "I am sorry" Kaiden put in, knowing that this might still be the fate of Shepard and that filled both him and Garrus with a raging fury which they both managed to keep hidden, but they knew it was far too late for Rila.

"We need to set off that bomb" called out Kaiden, "you got a detonator?" Garrus called back, "we'll have to find one" Kaiden replied. A low short scream interrupted them to which Garrus signaled over to Kaiden, "later" Kaiden softly replied. 2 Banshees accompanied by 4 Husks burst into the hall, Husks despite their ability to climb any surface and a give a shield draining discharge were seen as a bit of a joke by most soldiers and most wondered why the Reapers still bothered to create them, but it was starting to come obvious that the Husks were not the true fully developed human derrived creatures of the Reapers, these were being created by an indoctrinated proxy of the Reapers who was deluded into thinking he was still in control of his own actions, the Husks were nothing more than bullet sponge prototypes. This was proven when Berretti, the N7 Demolisher of the squad threw an Arc Grenade at mindlessly charging Husks killing all 4 instantly, the throwing of the grenade had momentarily caused her to have to stay still and that was enough for one of the Banshees to biotically hop towards her and grab her, lifting her up. Kaiden and Garrus responded to the emergency by deploying their Overloads at the offending Banshee causing it to drop Barretti and stagger back. Barretti bleeding from her side where the Banshee had grabbed her staggered towards Yousef, the team medic to get a dose of much needed Medi-Gel. This caused an opening for the team's only other biotic, a Vanguard called McSwain, a classic highland games type highlander to Biotically Charge the staggering Banshee then followed up with a Nova and a blast from his new version type Claymore shotgun equipped with Explosive Ammo causing the Banshee's end, "be at peace now, lassie" McSwain said to the dying Banshee. Meanwhile the other Banshee had corned the other 3 members of the squad and drove them out of cover with a Barrier Blast causing their shields to drain. Fortunately with the creature now being totally alone, the rest of the squad could focus on it despatching it quickly.

"That's all of them for now, we need to find that detonator Kaiden said frantically looking for it. Samara dropped the Biotic Barrier she had over herself, Falare and the Bomb and Rila had picked herself off the floor revealing a detonator in her hand. In her last moments of being herself she turned to her sister "Falare, go, they are hundreds coming" to which could be heard an approaching chorus of screams, Falare responded to her sister "Rila", Falare sadily continued "I love you" to which Samara approvingly nodded to her daughter knowing what she was about to do. The squad with Kaiden dragging a struggling Falare ran to the lift, they got in and Kaiden hit the button to take them to the exit. The lift was then rocked by an explosion causing Falare to crumple in despair knowing what had happened

The squad exited the lift, Falare was the first to speak "there wasn't even time to say goodbye", Samara with her own heart breaking tried to comfort her daughter "few can break the Reapers hold" to say that placed a chill through Kaiden, Garrus and Ashley would be like saying the Arctic was cold when they thought about what Shepard might be, "her will was extraordinary as was her love for you" Samara continued to which Falare angerly replied "we left her to die". Samara then went on "the code demands that an Ardat Yakshi can no longer stay in a monastery that no longer exists, you will accompany me to the.....er, my ship", Samara had suddenly remembered the company she was with. What was unknown to the squad was that Shepard accompanied Samara to the Monastery from the new Normandy, they both split up, but had kept heir communicators fully open, Samara had been hiding in the lift when the intial meeting between Shepard and the squad took place and was ready to burst out before Shepard and Kaiden managed to calm Liara, she then ascended to the Great Hall where the squad rejoined her. Kaiden watched Samara and Falare depart and spoke into his comunicator "shuttles 1 and 2, we are ready for pick up" The squad then boarded the shuttles and left the planet.

CODEX ENTRY

ASARIPHILE

A Non Asari that has a physical attraction towards Asari, which accounts for a good deal of the galactic population. The Asari, who for all intents and purposes are a mono gendered female race that can have children with any sentient organic race of any gender are attractive not only to straight males and lesbian females of other races, but also to gay males and straight women of other races


	4. Timetable Forwarded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunitements a plenty as Shona is reunited with some old friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shona is equipped with a L5b Biotic Amp and Nexus XII Omni Tool, yes I know they are not canon, but it will become clear

Samara's shuttle docked with the Normandy to which she and Falare disembarked to meet a waiting Miranda. "Shepard has been taken by the Alliance" Samara reported "This is my daughter, Falare" , who looked completly distraught, "I will take her with me to the starboard lounge". Miranda responded "we know, we have been monitoring communications, hmmph, Shepard, it looks like you moved our schedule forward, and Samara, keep watch on your daughter, I don't want any incidents". Samara gave a curt nod. Miranda knew about Ardat Yakshi from intelligence gathered by Cerberus and from the mission to take down Morinth. She knew that the Ardat Yakshi that lived in the monastery were not like Morinth, but Falare was still Ardat Yakshi and would still need to be monitored, but she trusted Samara to keep a watch over her daughter

At the same time 2 shuttles where about to dock with the Alliance dreadnought Matterhorn, when Kaiden sent a message to the communications officer, "this is ground team return from sortie requesting permission to dock, we have a very special guest with us, request that the admiral meets us at the docking bay". The officer replied with "permision granted, the admiral will meet you at docking bay". The shuttles came into dock and 10 of the crew disembarked almost immediately with Kaiden and Liara remaining on board. "Commander Williams report, what's going on" ordered the admiral. Ashley along with Garrus and Tali gave concerned looks, then Ashley responded to the order by saying "sir, you have to prepare yourself", " what do you mean?" demanded the admiral. The 3 squad members turned to the shuttle yet to fully disembark and watched along with the admiral as Kaiden and Liara accompany a third figure in omni-cuffs. The admiral tried to get a look at the figure and then, momentarly, his jaw almost bounced off the deck floor, "SHEPARD" he almost shouted in disbelief and walked quickly to meet her, then stopped suddenly at what he saw before him, it was as far as his mind at this moment was concerned the one thing he never thought possible could happen, but hoped would for over 3 years and the greatest tragedy of his life. He looked at the face of his former protege and decades of military discipline came undone as he saw the horror before him, his sweet protege turned into his worst nightmare, a face webbed by glowing red scars with red glowing electronic eyes and parlour skin, what had happened to turn her to into this nightmare that was in front of him. Then to make it worse the nightmare spoke "Anderson?" Anderson turned to Kaiden and ordered "take her to Chakwas in the med-lab and prepare a high level examination, I am going to have to report this to Hackett". The 5 of them took Shepard to the med-lab.

Chakwas got the order to evacuate Eve and Wiks from the main med-lab and put them in a side med-lab, but was not told why, she carried out the order, reluctantly and wondered why, then she saw Kaiden, Liara, Tali, Garrus and Ashley bring another figure then she almost went cold at what she was witnessing, the very girl she helped along with her parents to raise up turned into a monstrosity. "Place her in that examination chair", she said outwardly coolly, but inside she was a torment of emotions, fear, worry, anger, sadness. The chair was a metalic chair that could be turned into examination table with limb restraints, which were placed on Shepard, to which Liara called out in horror "please, you can't do that, please tell me you're not going to cut her open", Kaiden tried to calm Liara "of course not, we would never do such a thing, but we have to make sure that really is Shepard and not some Reaper abomination, I think it is more than safe to rule out her being a clone, because no one would stupid enough to make a clone that looks like that and think they could fool anyone". Chakwas told them that any examination had been postponed until Anderson gave the order.

Anderson was communicating with Hackett on the QEC, "Admiral", Anderson said to Hackett. Hackett looked at the weary face of his long time friend and asked "David, what's wrong?", Anderson then replied with every muscle in his body tightening in fear, worry, uncertainty and anger of what he had seen, "is Admiral Shepard with you?", "yes" answered Hackett, Anderson continued " then bring her to the QEC and when you do, clear out everyone within hearing distance and block out all recordings" . " David, what's going on", Hackett was starting to become very concerned for his friend. "Please, Steven, just do this", Hackett gave a nod and followed his friends request and soon enough Admiral Shepard appeared along side Hackett. "She's here, want to tell us what this is all about?" Anderson was almost at a loss about what to tell them, "Admiral's we have what we believe to be Commander Shepard on board", that sent a shock to the 2 admirals. "You mean you have found my daughters body?" enquired Admiral Shepard, No, Admiral, I mean we have her alive and well or at least what we can tell to be her". Hackett cut in "what do you mean, David?" Anderson sighed " she has been changed, Steven, Hannah, it is more than obvious that she has had a lot of highly advanced cybernetic implants and upgrades and by a lot I mean at least over 30% of her body must now be cybernetic and that's just on a cursory glance" Admiral Shepard gave a gasp "my baby", Anderson then went on "we are now longer sure if she is still human or....some type of advanced Reaper creature". At this point Hackett had to butt in, "Anderson, hold off any examination until we meet with you in the Ismar Frontier", Hackett then cut off the QEC. Anderson was about to give the order to his helmsman when the communication officer told him of a communications request coming froj an unknown source to which he granted. Anderson listen to a female Australian voice come over "Admiral Anderson, this is Miranda Lawson, XO of the.....Normandy SR2, I believe you have our commanding officer, Commander Shepard in your custody, may we request to come aboard to make certain she is being treated fairly?", Anderson simply told her "granted" now he would get some answers for questions that troubled him for the last 3 years


	5. Oh, They Are Going To Love This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More truths are revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sapphire, Shona's pet name for Liara, after the blue precious gem, often shorten to "Saff"
> 
> Guys and gals, please feel free to comment and critise, I only ask that you keep it honourable and constructive

The command deck of the Matterhorn was as busy as normal for a dreadnought when Anderson returned, Joker the chief helmsman called over to Anderson "I hear we have Shepard back", Anderson replied slightly annoyed "Joker, I don't know how you managed to gain that information, but you will secure your mouth on it", "Yes sir, it's just....where has she been for the last 3 years?", Anderson wearily replied "I know, Joker, I know". The communications officer then interrupted "unknown vessel on approach, it's wishing to open channels" Anderson and Joker looked out to see a sleek and very advanced frigate that looked like a larger version of the old Normandy that looked almost like new, despite scanners telling them that it had highly sophisticated repairs to repair intense battle damage and it was also obvious that some paintwork had deliberately been removed and emblazoned on both sides of the hull on large capital letters was the name NORMANDY. "My baby" whispered Joker, Anderson gave him a raised eyebrow, "open channels", "this is Normandy to Matterhorn, ready for departure, do we have clearance" asked Miranda. "Matterhorn to Normandy, postpone departure and accompany us to the Ismar Frontier" Anderson replied, after a brief silence Miranda gave "confirmed". The 2 ships then proceeded to accompany each other through the Nimbus Relay to the Ismar Frontier.

Once in the Ismar Frontier it was confirmed for the Normandy shuttle to depart and dock with the Matterhorn, Anderson with Kaiden and Ashley greeted them on the docking bay. A perfectly formed dark haired woman came out of the shuttle, Admiral, I am Miranda Lawson and I would like to introduce my team, or rather the rest of Shepard's squad, Anderson then gave a nod. The first to come out was a dark skinned human male, Anderson recognised him immediately, "this is Jacob Taylor", he was followed by a hooded Japanese woman "Kasumi Goto", a surly short haired, heavily tattooed pixie like human female "Jack, a grizzled human mercenary veteran "Zaeed Masani", an elderly Salarian "Dr. Mordin Solis", a quiet professional Drell "Thane Krios", a boisterous young Krogan "Grunt" and finally a serene Asari accompanied by her daughter "Samara with her daughter Falare", Kaiden and Ashley shared a look with each other on that last introduction. "Admiral, can you please take us to see Shepard?" Anderson gave out "follow us" and they were led to the main med-bay area. When they got there they saw Shepard tied down to the examination chair, "BATTLEMASTER", "SIHA", "TIAMNA" exclaimed Grunt, Thane and Samara respectively. Grunt, not the most patient of beings roared loudly and was beginning to charge into the bay when a large reptillian head smacked into the side of him, "STAND DOWN, WHELP", a large elder Krogan stood over him, before things intensified Anderson and Lawson told their respective teams to stand down. "What is the meaning of this? demanded Miranda to the Admiral, "we were not sure if it was really her or some type of Reaper creation", Miranda gave back, "oh, believe me, it is her, I worked for over 2 years as head of the Lazurus Project on her reconstruction, and I would like to accompany your doctor on the examination", Anderson seeing no real option granted the request.

Soon after the dreadnaught Kilimanjaro came into the system and admiral's Hackett and Shepard disembarked for the Matterhorn, once on board they were led to the main med-bay where they saw Shepard on the examination chair, Shepard looked up to see her mother and Hackett, Hackett looked grimly, but Admiral Shepard almost collapsed at the sight "oh,no, oh dear god, no" she lowly exclaimed when she saw what had became of her daughter. She bolted into the med-bay which also had Chakwas, Miranda and Liara in it and hugged her restrained daughter "is it you, is it really you?", to which Chakwas confirmed "we have done preliminary testing and have determined that this is the body of one Commander Shona Shepard and not a clone, they are certain cells in the human body that chronologically change with the person even if they were to be eternal and ever young that cannot be replicated" "Now let us turn to a more intense scan, as you can see the patient has had extensive cybernetic implantation covering over 45% of her body mass, including bone weave, muscle weave, skin weave, skeletal plating and implants on every organ except for reproductive organs as well as nanites flowing through her bloodstream" Hannah and Liara gasped at hearing this. Chakwas then turned to both of them "you better prepare yourself for there is worse to come" and after a moment she continued "there is 0.5% necrotopsy in the brain and almost 1% in the skin". Miranda then gave the reason for it, "Liara, when she told you she had been missing you for a year and not 3, that is because for 2 of them she was either technically dead or in a very deep coma". For Hannah and Liara it was almost like the world stopped spinning, but Miranda then showed them some footage from her omni-tool, "this was Shepard soon after we picked her from Alchera", the footage was of a stasis pod containing a serverly damaged body which sent a shock through the other 3. By now Hannah had to ask "who was behind your Lazurus Project? knowing it would have to take an extreme amount of money to fund, Miranda then seeing no choice but to reluctantly answer "Cerberus and the Illusive Man", that almost sent Hannah and Liara apoletic, but even worse was yet to come. Dr. Chakwas then stated "I have seen a lot of cybernetic implant technology from through out the galaxy, but I have never seen anything like the 2 implants in her brain". Miranda knew that what she would now have to tell them would cause a near explosion, "we developed them from the technology from the pieces we recovered from Sovereign". You could hear a pin drop in the med-lab, this caused Admiral Shepard to storm out of the med-lab nearly in tears

Admiral Shepard was almost hyperventilating when she stormed out of the med-lab, her friends, David and Steven tried to calm her with David asking her worriedly "Hannah, what's wrong?", Hannah took a moment to compose herself " those bastards, those Cerberus bastards, they took my little girl and implanted her with Reaper tech, I want them dead, David, I want that fucking Lawson bitch placed under arrest". The 2 men then gently asked if she sure of what she was saying, she then come out "Steven, that bitch told me, Karin and Liara, that they placed 2 implants in her brain from technology they developed from the pieces they recovered from Sovereign, believe me I know what I heard, I stormed out of there with my very own Reaper implanted daughter calling out for me". "Major Alenko, Commander Williams" ordered Admiral Anderson "look after Admiral Shepard", the 2 male admirals then bolted into the med-bay to witness a chaotic scene with Liara pinning Lawson to the med-bay wall with a Stasis field and Dr. Chakwas threatening her with a scalpel saying "I suggest my dear that you come up with a good explanation" with a still restrained Shepard begging for her "Saff" and the woman she considered as an aunt to stop. Liara was incensed at the dark haired woman, "EXPLAINATION?" she cried out in fury, "this whore put horrors in my love's body and turned her into a monster for her own twisted will, I will crush the very breath out of her". Liara was tightening the stasis field around Miranda when Admiral Anderson, perhaps the only being that at that moment who could provide a moment of clarity with a gentle touch to the arm to calm her. "Oh, she will provide one or she will be executed for treason" Anderson interrupted, "and I'll provide the firing squad" added Hackett, this was finished by Garrus, who heard the exchanges with the 3 admirals and in the med-bay, "and I'll be the first to volunteer". The Normandy 2 squad was then held for questioning

CODEX ENTRY

PROHIBITED TECHNOLOGY: REAPER TECH

The use of technology made by the Reapers is strictly prohibited by all council races and especially Humanity. It is only studied in the most restrictive environment through the use of drones operated by engineers working in very short work shifts. This is to be prevent the threat of indoctrination which can come from exposure from such technology


	6. Account

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shona opens herself up for closer inspection

The situation in the med-bay was starting to calm down from the mayhem that had been with Anderson calling for Garrus, who was already there, along with Tali and Engineer Adams to join him. Once they arrived Anderson ordered them to go to the Normandy with a engineering crew to examine the ship and get any evidence from omni-tool footage, armour-cams, ship logs and security footage. Hearing this and knowing that it would be impossible to hide the Normandy's biggest asset from the 3 tech experts, Shepard spoke "I need to tell you, the Normandy is equipped with a fully sentient A.I". The room almost exploded, "Shepard, please tell me you're joking" said Anderson to his protoege, "No, I am not" she answered him, "Please let me communicate with my ship" Anderson was unsure, but Hackett gave a nod, "EDI?" Shepard called to her ship, "Yes, Shepard?", an electronic female voice replied, EDI, an engineering crew from the Matterhorn is coming over and 3 of them are some of my closest friends, I want you to give them complete and total access without hinderance, is that clear?", "Yes, Shepard, logging you out". "EDI?" asked Garrus, "Enhanced Defence Intelligence" Shepard answered him. Hackett buried his face in his hands as Shepard went on "she's not so bad, she helped fend off a Collector attack and helped us break away from Cerberus" she told Hackett, "break away from Cerberus?" Hackett enquired, "Yes, we broke away when we found out what the Illusive Man wanted with the Collector Base, I like a fucking idiot gave him the base instead of destroying it after we defeated the Human Proto Reaper" "Human Proto Reaper, siame?" Liara worriedly asked, "Yes, the Collectors were liquifying the colonists to create that fucking monstrous thing, as I told you in the monastery it's the real reason for the Reaper invasions, they tried with the Protheans 50000 years ago, but couldn't succeed so they turned them into the Collectors", "Aunt Karin" she then continued, "I need you to cut me open, I need you to take a closer examination of those implants", "SHONA" Admiral Shepard cried out in shock, "Mum, it's the only safe way for you to find out that I don't have Reaper tech in my skull, interogatting my squad is going to cause a lot of damage, Jack and Grunt are not the most stable of personalities", "oh, I am sure we can handle one little Cerberus girl" Vega put in his tuppence worth, "Vega,only 3 members of my crew were ever full Cerberus members, Miranda, Jacob and a ditzy girl called Kelly Chambers and her membership is very doubtful, my squad had to be recruited from various places and Jack despises Cerberus with a worrying passion, she only agreed to join us if we helped her to destroy a Cerberus base on Pragia and the Normandy crew are just civilians from Terminus colonies with varying expertises, Jack is also known as Subject Zero, Grunt is a tank bred by the Warlord Okeer, Samara is a Justicar with centuries of experience, Zaeed along with Vido Santiago is the true founder of the Blue suns and Thane is an Assassin trained for the Compact, please admirals, allow Karin to carry out the procedure". Liara added "as much as I hate to say to this, but she is right", Hackett sighed "alright", Dr. Chakwas then demanded "send in my surgical team, the rest of you, get out"

Several hours passed before Dr. Chakwas emerged from med-bay, Liara approached her, followed by the 3 admirals, "how is she?", Chakwas replied "well I have good news and bad news", "quickly, doctor the bad news first" Hackett came forth, " the implants in her physiology can never safely be removed", "oh, merciful goddess" Liara anguished. Karin then gave a reassuring smile "don't worry, Liara, admirals, that's the only bad news, the implants attached to her brain are most definitely not Reaper tech, just merely inspired by it, they will perform their functions of helping with the ocular implants and regulating some long term memory, but nothing else beside that". "Are you sure, doc?" Anderson enquired, Dr. Chakwas reassured him "Yes, Reaper tech has a devastating effect on organic bodies. especially the brain where it causes neural rewrite and decay and there is no indicatilon of that". "In fact the cybernetic implants through out Shepard's body have given her many advantages including increased strength, endurance, stamina, coordination, recovery, flexability, auditory, vision, reflex, circulatory, lung capacity, speed, biotic ability, tech ability and life span", "how much lifespan, Karin?" Liara nervously asked, "we can't tell for certain, but we can most definitely assertain to be around 2 or 3 human lifespans at the very least", "Liara, admirals, I recommend we keep this information between ourselves and Ms. Lawson and not inform the Alliance or the Council at least for now, for if the wrong parties were to get wind of it before we are ready to explain the curcumstances then Shepard's life could be in extreme danger". I agree" interjected Anderson, "Are we all in agreement?" asked Hackett, to which they all confirmed

The engineering team that was sent to the Normandy returned to the Matterhorn and gave their report to the admirals, "Admirals" Adams started "the Normandy is perhaps one of the most, if not the most advanced ships in the galaxy". Adams was not known for hyperbole so the admirals took notice, he then continued "the Tantulus Drive is way more advanced than anything in the Alliance, it can blueshift longer allowing for longer stealth runs, the core may be almost twice the size of the SR1's core, but it is at least 3 times as powerful, that ship can fly, the only drawback is that Cerberus doesn't care too much for safety, if the engines are not balanced especially during a firefight then a plasma leak could vapourise everone in the engine room, thankfully that has been mitigated by upgrades installed that cause the likelyhood of this to be almost zero and a fine engineering team of Donelly and Daniels, believe me you want them back in the Alliance not today, but yesterday" "Then we move on to the A.I Processing Core, it's processing power is off the charts, when Shepard said it was sentient that was no bullshit, I don't know, but Shepard and her team has it's unqestioning loyalty, the ship also has Silaris Armour Plating, Cyclonic Barrier Technology, a Thannix Cannon and other advanced features, I recommend that with the exception of A.I processor that we share the schematics of the ship with the Alliance and possibly our allies, all in all that ship is desperately needed in our fight with the Reapers and it is needed now."

Adams continued his evaluation "in addition to the usual compliment of shuttlecraft, the Normandy also has an amphibious light assault hovercraft codenamed Hammerhead, Lt. Cortez has had a blast looking it over and now we come to the ships mineral hold". Adams shook his head before he went on "Admirals, besides the ungodly amounts of platinum, palladium and iridium, there was an absolute obscene amount of eezo". Admiral Hackett asked "how much are we talking about, 400 or 500lbs?", Adams suddenly lowered his tone "no, sir, it's more like in the excess of 100000lbs", the admirals spluttered in shock with Anderson coughing out "good god, how did no one get eezo poisoning?" Admiral Shepard asked "how much was there of the other minerals?" Adams replied "120000 to 150000lbs of each one", Admiral Shepard choked out "my baby, her coming back, Cerberus, the Collectors, the Omega 4 relay and now this, what the hell has she been up to, and what the hell have I missed these last 3 years?". She didn't know how, but she did know that she would find out what had been happening with her daughter

Now came the part of the evaluation Adams knew would cause a commotion with the Admirals, "admirals, I have, with the utmost seriousness, to tell you about the Normandy's IFF". Adams went quite for a moment while the admirals looked at each before Hackett addressed Adams, "what is it, lieutenant?" Adams went all rigid and serious and answered "the Normandy's IFF is not of Alliance or human design, it is, I am afraid to inform you, a Reaper IFF". The atmosphere suddenly went cold when Hackett ordered "lieutenant, please repeat what you just said", Adams repeated "the Normandy's IFF is a Reaper IFF". "GOOD GOD, ALMIGHTY" Anderson blasted out, before continuing "how in God's name did they manage to get their hands on one?" Adams answered "I cannot speculate, Admiral, but I believe that the use of it is how they got through the Omega 4 relay". Hackett then asked "besides yourself, lieutenant, does anyone else on your team know about it?, "no, admiral", Hackett got all serious "lieutentant, you along with us 3 in this room will be sworn to absolute secrecy on this issue". Adams then asked what about Shepard, sir?" Hackett answered "she will be allowed to tell only the most senior members of her crew, this one issue above all others must never reach the ears of Alliance Command or the Council, am I understood, lieutentant?" Adams gave a crisp salute and replied "yes, sir", beside him Admiral Shepard was shaking with fear for her daughter 

Yet, there was still more surprises as Adams went on with his debrief, "the Captain's quarters, Shepard's quarters and the armoury were also treasure troves of delight's". Adams called for two of his engineers to bring 2 artifacts, "the first one here is a Prothean artifact, it looks like a solid sphere of silver water, it pulses whenever you touch it". The engineer gave a demonstration to the fascinated admirals, Anderson asked this was just sitting in her cabin?", the engineer replied "yes, sitting as a centre piece on a coffee table", "good god in heaven, Shepard, what have you been up to?" moaned Anderson quitely. The hoarding of Prothean artifacts was highly illegal in Council Space. Adams turned to Admiral Shepard with worried look on his face, "admiral, this is your daughter's original N7 helmet, I am afraid it had ruptures in the confinement pressure and environment protection areas, indicating that wearer suffered spacing". Admiral Shepard took the helmet and held it close to her trying to stop herself weeping thinking what her daughter must have suffered. Adam's knew when it was time to be sensetive, so he discreetly turned to the other admirals, "admirals, besides the Collector weapon that you have already seen, we have found 4 new types of heavy weapons, the Arc Projector, the Avalanche, the Blackstorm and the Cain". He went into great detail into each one to the highly interested admirals, Hackett asked "can we put them into production?", Adams answered "yes, all except the Collector Particle Beam weapon, we have no idea on how it works", this raised murmurs from the admirals who adjourned the meeting to talk to Lawson and Commander Shepard


	7. Rekindling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shona and Liara slowly start to rekindle their relationship while Shepard recovers

Shona awoke to the most beautiful sight she has seen in over 3 years

"Hey there, Saff"

"Hello, Shepard" Liara said with a loving and content smile

"I've missed you so much, Saff"

"And I have missed you too"

Shepard started to turn serious

"Liara, I have to ask you, do you still love me?"

"Goddess, Shona, how can you even ask me that?"

"It's been 3 years and for 2 of them I was more or less technically dead or as good as and for the last year I was chasing Collectors and other problems, I was worried you might have moved on"

Liara knew that at some point they would have to discuss the past year, but now was most certainty not the time

"Shona, you were far more than just some casual lover that most Asari take, you were to be my bondmate, I wanted to spend my life with you and I still do"

"You mean the maiden part of your life?"

"No, I mean the rest of my life"

Shepard began to panic

"Oh, God, Liara, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Shona" Liara tried to calm her panicking bondmate

"I don't understand, you said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me, Liara, I will only live perhaps another 150 years if lucky, you will live to be over 1000 or at least you should"

"Er, Shepard, you are aware of all the benefits of your implants?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were told that they would greatly increase your lifespan?"

"No, our mission against the Collectors was labelled a suicide mission"

Liara remained outwardly calm, but was starting to rage inside, she would be having a chat with a certain Ms.Lawson over that little titbit

"Well, let's just say you could be living more like an Asari than you think"

"What do you mean?"

"Not now, Shona, i will tell you later, once you have recovered a little more" Liara then bent over to place a kiss on her bondmate's forehad, Shepard now unrestrained in a regular med-bed reached up to catch Liara on the lips, they shared a passionate kiss, the first in over 3 years and the feeling of relief was indescribable, no words were needed, they knew right there and then that not only did they want each other, but they needed each other, they also shared a brief hug before Liara pulled away to let Shepard rest, they both wanted a lot more but it was not an option for now, "rest now, Shona, I will see you later"

As Liara was about to leave, Tali burst in, "how could you, Shepard?" "TALI" shouted an astonished Liara as Tali brushed past her, "how could you do it?" Tali went on, and this point Liara dragged Tali out of the room before more stress was caused to her bondmate. "How could Shepard do what?" Liara asked Tali, "have a boshtet Geth on her Squad", "Tali, are you sure?", "yes, I have a ship's recording from the Normandy on my omni-tool", Tali showed Liara the footage, it showed Shepard in the Normandy's A.I core conversing with a Geth unit, "she even gave it a name, Legion she called it", "I am telling you, Liara, she might not be a Reaper creature, but those Cerberus boshtets have done something to her mind and what they tried to do to our fleet, they sabotaged it. They must have done something to her mind because the Shepard we knew would never have a Geth on her squad" with that Tali stormed off. "Oh by Athame's name, Shepard, what did you get yourself into?" Liara asked to herself. A certain Ms. Lawson would certainly now be having a chat with a certain cerulean maiden.

The 3 admirals then came into the med-bay, Admiral Shepard was the first speak, "honey, we need to talk, can you excuse us, Liara?" Shona gave Liara a reassuring nod and Liara replied to her "I'll be just be with Garrus and Tali, siame", she then left the med-bay. Admiral Shepard then said to her daughter, "honey, we taken a look at your ship and I am worried about you, A.I, elite level technology, mineral hoarding, Prothean artifacts, Cerberus connections, heavy weapon manufacturing and a Reaper IFF, what have you been up to honey?" Before Shona could answer, Admiral Anderson addressed her "the Reaper IFF, how did Cerberus manage to get a hold of one?" Shona answered "they didn't, I got it from a derelict Reaper in the Thorne system". Admiral Shepard had to sit down before she collapsed from shock, she then shouted "YOU WERE ON A REAPER?", Shona answered "yes, a derelict one, it had been dead for 37 million years". Admiral Hackett just told Shona to write a report as he feared for Admiral Shepard's health if her daughter said anymore and instructed her who she could tell about the Reaper IFF. The admirals went to review the Normandy footage

The footage taken from the Normandy was being viewed by the 3 admirals along with Kaiden, Ashley, Vega, Garrus, Liara and Tali, who were agreed by the admirals that they would be joining Shepard on the Normandy when she recovered and was recommissioned by the Alliance and the Council. The first piece of footage to be viewed was the Collector attack on Horizon. The first thing seen was the 3 squad member team of Shepard, Grunt and Jack, when the footage displayed Shepard's face Admiral Shepard shouted "STOP", then more quitely said "freeze and zoom in" and there it was, her daughter's face, a few scratches on her face perhaps, nothing noticible but otherwise more less the same as it was when she served on the original Normandy. Oh, that was it, Ms. Lawson would most definitely be having tea with the maiden at the Admiral's table while they had a frank discussion about items of great debate. The footage continued on with Mordin's voice telling Shepard that the protection against the Seeker Swarms was uncertain until tested in the field. The test worked as the swarms seemed to ignore them then first wave of collectors attacked the squad


	8. Advance Australian Fair...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda Lawson is put on the spot about events concerning Shepard's reconstruction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My intention for this story was to have an AU of the Reaper War with certain obvious canon events having to be placed and new AU events put in with new AU types of Reaper creatures, the Collector mission footage review was to give Shepard's original crew a better understanding of important events of the collector mission

The footage from the Collector mission had been viewed and copies were sent to Alliance Command, such as it was, and to the Council for their purview. Tali's question of why Shepard had a Geth in her squad was answered, she was not happy, but she understood why and it gave her food for thought. Now certain questions needed to be answered by Miranda Lawson, who was being held in the brig, the rest of the Normandy crew, although held for questioning were never put in the brig and were freed from enquirery the day before. Admiral Shepard freed Miranda, but instructed Miranda to join her and Liara in an observation room.

Miranda sat on one of the chairs in the observation room, Miranda always had a cold arrogant air about her, it was like a coat of armour, it protected her, but like all suits of armour it was also a mask, it hid her true self, that of a warm hearted individual that had defied her arrogant wicked father to save her little sister from a life of near slavery. It had nearly broke her when she gave, with the help of Cerberus ironically enough, her sister to a loving family, she had been racked with guilt ever since she realised to her horror what a huge mistake it would have been if she carried out her plan to install a control chip into Shepard, she was thankful to the Illusive Man for stopping her. She was soon joined by Admiral Shepard and Liara, the admiral was the first to speak, "tell me Ms. Lawson, why does my daughter's face look like a butchered cybernetic mess? "I have seen what she looked like on the Horizon mission and she looked like her old self, so Ms. Lawson what happened to cause her current look? Miranda answered "choice" , the admiral and Liara looked at her in surprise, she then continued " we had to awake Shona early and her facial implants had not fully settled when a traitor called Wilson betrayed us by reprogramming the defence mechs into killing nearly everone on Lazarus Station, he wanted to sell Shona's body to the Shadow Broker, who in turn wanted to sell it to the Collectors, but don't worry I took care of Wilson and Shepard took care of the Shadow Broker

"The Shadow Broker?" Liara exclaimed in surprise, "no one knows who he, she or they are, how could she.....?" Miranda now knew that another confession was needed "Cerberus had been tracking the Shadow Broker for years, we even had agents in his employ, none of which ever met the Shadow Broker in person only through audible communication", she then continued "our agent found the source of the transmissions, but a Broker agent tracked our agent to Illium. She then turned to Liara, "Liara,we knew about your work as an info broker in Nos Astra, we just never told Shepard you were on Illium, Liara, Shepard was in Nos Astra several times helping me track my sister, recruiting Samara and Thane and dealing with that Broker agent, a rogue Spectre called Tela Vasir, but she never knew you were on Illium". Liara was now in total shock "you never told her?, I nearly killed her in that monastery, I thought she was turned into a Reaper creature and was the one leading the Reaper force turning the Asari into these Banshees, you were the source of months of sheer agony, I will never forgive you", "Liara, we thought we might never come back through the Omega 4 Relay, I didn't want to put you and Shepard through any unneed pain" Liara angrily responded "save it, you used her for your own gain". Admiral Shepard then tried to calm Liara, mostly succeeding, "now back to my daughters face, but don't worry we will be discussing this Shadow Broker incident at a later date" Miranda went on "the apperance on her face is not pernament it is caused by stress, surly attitudes, aggressive behaviour or sheer willpower and can be slowly fixed by calm, peaceful attitudes, thoughtful behaviour or sheer willpower and it can be permanently fixed with cosmetic surgery, she for some reason has said she likes her current look". Liara got off her seat and leaned foward on the table towards Miranda "stress?, well I know one way to relieve her of one major form of stress, by making sure you never again be on board the Normandy when we depart"

"You can't do that, she needs me to monitor her implants" Miranda shouted out, Admiral Shepard then smiled "oh, don't worry, Dr. Chakwas has being extensively studying your handiwork and she will be joining Liara and my daughter on the Normandy". Miranda continued to protest "you can't just commandeer the Normandy, it's not an Alliance ship", the admiral gave her a contented look "oh, can't we?, you built that ship using plans stolen from the Alliance and you were a fully fledged high ranking member of a major terrorist organisation, you and Jacob Taylor are being pardoned, but that comes with some major conditions, so I would advise not to push it". What she had no intentions of telling Miranda was that the Normandy would never be a fully fledged Alliance ship and would be registered as a Spectre vessel for her daughter. Miranda looked defeated, but accepting, "Admiral, Liara, there is something else I need to tell you and it's something that can never be told to anyone outside of us 3", the admiral patiently went "go on", Miranda went on "when Shepard defeated the Shadow Broker she took over the Brokerage network, she knew that Cerberus could never be trusted with the vast amount of information on the network that is why she put as much of the network as possible on the Normandy as possible before destroying the Shadow Broker ship, she also doesn't trust the Alliance or anyother galatic agency with it, that is why when she allowed the Matterhorn engineering crews on the Normandy she gave them total and complete access, but not ultimate access". "Liara, only I and Shepard knew about the installation of the Network on the Normandy and as no one knew what the Broker looked or really sounded like, she placed me as an interum broker, but I am not cut out for it, she needs someone trustworthy, someone pure as possible, someone unlikely to be corrupted, someone with expertise in the info trade", Liara interrupted "you mean me?" Miranda answered "yes, the information on the Network can help gain sources needed to win this war". Admiral Shepard gave Liara a nod of approval and it was decided that certain things were best not leaving the room.


	9. Arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The admirals and the Council make arrangements for Shepard and the Normandy for the fight against the Reapers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank those who sent kudos and don't be afraid to comment

The Matterhorn conference room had Shepard, Liara and Miranda as well as the admirals and the Council on the Q:E.C. Councillor Tevos was the first to speak "we have reviewed the footage from Commander Shepard's mission against the Collector's and although they are still some very troubling implications we have decided to reinstate Commander Shepard into the ranks of the Spectres", Councillor Valern was next "we have circulated some select footage to the media with some, how shall we say, cosmetic edits". "What do you mean?" asked Admiral Hackett, Councillor Sparatus answered "we have altered Shepard's appearance to look more like before", Councillor Udina added"we thought it best that Shepard be presented to the public in a more accommodating manner", Shepard "interjected "hey, doesn't my appearance have a defining edge of confidence to inspire people?". This was answered by everyone in the room and on the Q.E.C was a collective, concise and very loud "NO". Liara turned to try to reason with Shepard " Love,I almost killed you in that monastery because I thought you had been turned into a monster and that is from someone who knows you better than anyone else ever possibly could, those who you will need to inspire and don't know you as well will be far less understanding". Shepard acquiesced "alright, Councillors, I accept my reinstatement into the Spectres, but I refuse to have any surgery to change my appearance, I have had enough surgeries". Tevos turned to Hackett who informed the assemblage " we can provide Commander Shepard with contacts for her eyes and some cosmetics to lessen the scars", Shepard agreed to this to the pleasure of all. Udina closed the meeting by informing about Major Alenko that he was being assigned to be a liasion on the Citadel.

After the Q.E.C link was finished Admiral Hacket went out of the conference room to gave out further orders "the crew of the Normandy with the exception of engineers Donnelly and Daniels will be assigned to extra light duties on the Matterhorn", Shepard knew that extra light duties meant basically taking a rest, and they deserved it, mainly being civilians only wearing Cerberus uniforms and far from being fully fledged members. Hackett then continued Engineer Adams will be joining the Normandy as main engineer as will Flight Lieutenant Moreau as pilot and of course Dr. Chakwas will be joining as medical officer as well as Specialist Traynor as communications officer". Tali was the next to speak "Admiral, I would like to join the Normandy, but at a later point, the footage of Legion has given me a lot to think about and I would like to return to the flotilla to hopefully talk them out of their stupid war with the Geth" Hackett agreed to this, then Samara spoke " I will go back to Asari space, the Reapers have yet to invade our core territories and I would like to raise my sisters for the fight". Hackett continued on "Mordin Solis has agreed to stay with Padok Wiks and Eve on the Matterhorn to work on the Genophage cure, Jack has agreed to help biotic students recently evacuated from Grissom Academy, Mr. Zaeed has agreed to look up some old contacts and Ms. Goto has been requested to obtain certain resources for the Crucible Project". Liara had told Shepard about the project, but the location was kept from her. "Urdnot Wrex and Primach Victus have agreed to join the Normandy temporary as liasions, Wrex interjected "and I'll bring baby pyjak here", referring to Grunt, "and hopefully to teach him to be a true Krogan, no offence, Shepard", Shepard gave a light chuckle. Hackett then finished "Lieutenant Commander Williams, Lieutenant Vega, Lieutenant Cortez, Garrus Vakarian and of course Liara T'Soni will be joining the Normandy. Ms. Lawson will be providing Alliance Command with intelligence on Cerberus and Mr. Taylor will helping coordinating with potential Cerberus defectors", after that Hackett dismissed the meeting. Shepard was happy when she heard that Grissom Academy had been evacuated, knowing that the young man, David Archer, she sent there was now safe

Admiral Shepard summoned her daughter to join her Liara and Miranda in the observation lounge, "Shona, Miranda has told us of the installation of the Brokerage Network on the Normandy and she has been acting as a temporary broker", Shona looked shocked "mum?", the admiral went on "as you know Miranda will be leaving the Normandy and we need someone to fill that role on a more permanent basis and we have found the right person, Shona, meet your new intelligence officer, Liara T'Soni". Shepard was almost apoletic "mum, you can't be serious", Liara turned to Shona "Shona, after you died I became an info broker on Illium, I know what I'll be getting myself into", Shepard "yeah, I know about info brokers , but this in a whole other....what do you mean you were an info broker on Illium?", "Shona when you left us, the Council wanted to bury all your warnings about the Reapers, so I looked for other sources of information and that led me to become an info broker". Shepard was still unhappy "mum, Miranda, I don't care I will not have Liara anywhere near it", Miranda tried to reason with Shona "Shepard, you know you will need info and resources and the Network is the best way to get them and Liara is best qualified to use it, Shepard relented somewhat "alright, but Liara, I want you to familarise yourself perfectly with every single available Broker agent before using the Network, because if you don't then I will smash it even if I have to take an axe to it". Liara nodded, then Admiral Shepard finished the meeting by saying "then we're in agreement and all knoledge about the Network will aways be kept between us 4". After the meeting Shepard went to have a pep talk with Admiral Anderson, who she considered a secondary father, before rejoinining the Normandy.


	10. Aboard Once More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy 2's new crew get acquainted with their new ship

The Normandy 2 came as quite the shock to those who just boarded, of course Shepard, Donnelly, Daniels and Adams, who a few days earlier led a Matterhorn engineering team to inspect the Normandy and to help install a war room in what was the armoury and to move the armoury to the shuttle bay. were used to it, the Alliance wanted further changes, but there was no time other than to add Alliance colours on the hull. The least of the shocked was also the most excited as Joker took his position in the cockpit, "Commander, have you seen this? it's my baby better than ever", Shepard replied "er, Joker, I have been spending most of the past year on this ship", Joker rather sheepishly answered "oh right, I forgot, it's just that I never thought I would be back on board a Normandy with better haptic interfaces and get this, real leather seats, there is no down side", just then EDI's holo sphere showed up "hello, Mr Moreau, I will be your co-pilot",Joker groaned "well there is that, can't we shut this thing off?", Shepard just laughed and told him no before heading off to the main battery to talk to Garrus.

Garrus after coming aboard had made a beeline for the main battery, he was curious about what Cerberus would have done with a Thannix Cannon and how they may have adapted it's use. He had been one of Shepard's closest friends since the first Normandy and more so when she helped him apprehend Dr. Saleon, the Salarian black market organ dealer who tried to pass himself as Dr. Heart, how he thought he would be able to use a human name, spelled incorrectly in this context to escape detection was anyone's guess and it met with the inevitable result. Garrus also had a thing for Shepard, as did many others both human and alien, but did not press on it out of respect for the relationship she had with Liara. Human and Turian relationships while still quite rare were not unheard of, in fact before the advent of humanity, interspecies relationships had basically meant Asari and X, but this changed greatly with humanities arrival in the galactic community with human females almost being desired as much as Asari and in some cases being desired even far more than the Asari, while human males were a quite distant third, albeit not that distant. The door to the battery opened and Shepard came into the battery, "hey, Garrus, I see you found your way to the Normandy's main gun, are you sure you don't want to take it easy before trying to calibrate that thing? Garrus calmly answered "after what I've been through, calibrating a giant gun will be like a holiday, besides I have to make sure Cerberus didn't make too many errors with it", "oh right, Palaven" lamented Shepard, "yeah", Garrus sighed, he continued "after that incident over Alchera, the Council and especially that walking embarrassment to Turians everywhere, Sparatus, ordered that your warnings about the Reapers should be dismissed and that Sovereign's attack on Citadel should labelled a Geth invasion", " yeah Liara told me about the Council dismissing my warnings, even claiming them to be the ravings of a madwoman", "well, Shepard, they got a cold dose of reality when the Reapers invaded through the Vular System, destroying the Batarian Hegemony, then invading Earth and attacking Palaven", "I am sorry Garrus, how well are they fighting back?, " well let's put it this way the Hegemony is obliterated, your homeworld is being destroyed with millions being sent to processing centres and to top it off Taeterus has been called a lost cause and the losses on Palaven have been catastrophic with 3 million lost the first day and 5 the second, even if we win this war it most likely that the Batarians will have to start from scratch, humanity will need to find a new homeworld and the Turians role as galactic military protectors will be over., I just hope we will be able to win". Shepard wanted to say something, but she knew from the tone in Garrus's voice when the conversation was over, so she made her goodbyes for now

Shepard went to XO's office to finally meet with Liara, "hey saff, I hope this new Shadow Broker role isn't to much for you", Shepard leaned over the chair Liara was sitting on and giving a gentle hug placing her chin on Liara's shoulder. "Don't worry" said Liara with contentment, "I am limiting myself to finding out about these broker agents for now, although they are more limited than I thought they would be considering the scale of the operation, "yeah" sighed Shona "we had to kill several getting to the Broker, several were killed because of Miranda's lack of tact in certain areas and the war has taken it's toll", "Shepard, you never mentioned who or what the Shadow Broker was", "he was a Yagh, Liara, or at least the current one was", "Goddess, Shona, what do you mean the current one?", "the wreck of a ship he was on was older than Parnack's discovery and long ceased being space worthy and was now only capable of orbiting the skies of Hagalaz and we also found detailed files about the Shadow Broker being in the service of a previous broker before eliminating them, which you will be able to view, Liara", "who do you think the original broker was, Shona?", "I don't know, Liara, but if I had to guess knowing about the different galactic races, I would have to say either an Asari or Salarian or perhaps a Batarian that could keep it's ego in check or a Krogan that could be discreet, although on the last 2 I am very doubtful, I did know it wasn't human because the coup happened about at least 20 years before we discovered mass effect physics", "all this time, Shona, and the galaxy never knew", "well, Liara, let's make sure they continue to be in the dark, besides I didn't come here to talk about the Shadow Broker", oh" said Liara coylly "what did you come here to talk about?", "us, Liara". Liara then got serious "Shona, I lost you once and I have no intentions of ever losing you again, I know I can't always be physically be with you, but I always want to feel your presence, will you help to restablish the mental link we once had? "Oh God, Liara, do you really have to ask?, of course I will". Liara had gotten off her seat and held Shona,then made her eyes turn black declaring "EMBRACE ETERNITY". The two minds merged gently into one with feelings of love, contentment, understanding and trust flowing between them both and after a small amount of time when the 2 minds seperated the link was restablished. Shona and Liara gently laid their heads against each other when Joker burst through the intercom, "er, Commander, Wrex and Primarch Victus want to talk to you". He always knew how to ruin the moment.

CODEX ENTRY

HUMANITY - UNION AU

Pre Invasion Human Populations

Earth - 9.3 billion - Living on Earth, Orbital Stations or Luna

Sol System - 14 million - Living elsewhere in the Solar System 

Local Cluster - 185 million - Living in other solar sytems within the home star cluster

Colonists - 720 million - Living in human controlled colonies beyond the Local Cluster

Spacers - 2.7 million - Living on space ships or space stations 

Migrants - 12.35 million - Living on territory controlled by alien powers

Citadel Residential - 1 million - Living on the Citadel

Omegans - 840000 - Living on Omega

Alliance Personel - 300 million (Less than 3% of total population) - Transient population residence based on military command

Mercenary Groups - 24 million - Transient population residence based on group unit location

Cerberus Personel - 400000 - Pre Indoctrination - Pre Intergration - Transient Population residence based on cell location


	11. Interlude: Union and Crystalisation Info Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information on Shona Shepard and the Reaper Creatures, divided into 4 sections, directly created by Reapers, created by intermediates, created by unwitting proxies, Crystalisation AU directly created by Reapers

SHONA SHEPARD

Rank: Commander

D.O.B: 11/04/2154

Height: 5ft 7in

Weight: 160lbs (weight increase because of heavy cybernetic upgrades) (previously 135lbs)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Amethyst (Now Electronic Red) 

Skin Tone: White (Now Pale Parlour)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Heterosexual/Asariphile

Parents: Douglas and Hannah Shepard

Significant Partner: Dr. Liara T'Soni

Closest Friends: Garrus Valkarian, Tali'Zorah, Urdnot Wrex

Greatest Mentors: Admiral Anderson, Admiral Hackett, Dr. Karin Chakwas

Political Allies: Ambassador Osabo, Councillor Tevos

Ancestry: Scottish

Military Class: Sentinel (Biotic/Tech Specialist)

Level: N7 Paladin

Combined Proficiency Level: 22 (highest 0.5% of military personel)

Combat: 2

Biotic: 9

Tech: 7

Melee: 4

Non Combat Attire Worn: Gothic/Leather wear

Combat Armours Worn: Standard N7, N7 Paladin, Kassa Fabrication, Cerberus Ajax

Favourite Weapons: Paladin, Kassa Locust, N7 Eagle, N7 Hurricane, Disciple

Service History

2172 - Joined Systems Alliance Navy

2173 - Enrolled in Sentinel Training

2175 - Graduated as Lieutenant

2177 - Served on mission to Akuze

2178 - Enrolled in N School

2179 - Graduated as Paladin

Promoted to Lieutenant Commander

2180 - Served on Perun's Bolt campaign

2183 - Became first human Spectre

Became commanding officer of the Normandy

Served in the chase for Saren

Saved the human colony of Terra Nova from Batarian extremists

First person ever to pass all tests and score first place on all tests on Pinacle Station

Promoted to Staff Commander

2183 - 2186 - CLASSIFIED

2186 - Serving as commanding officer of the Citadel Council Spectre/Private vessel Normandy SR2 as a leader against the Reaper Invasion

Commander Shepard is perhaps one of the most, if not the most powerful human Sentinels to date using a Barrier for protection instead of Shields and uses a specialised Omni-Blade for melee combat, equipped with a L5b Biotic Amp and a Nexus XII Omni-Tool, her abilities include

BIOTIC

Warp

Throw

Lift Grenade

Reave

Biotic Protector Sphere

Annihilation Field

Lash

TECH

Overload

Cryo Blast

Tech Armour

Homing Grenade

Shield Boost

Neural Shock

Invasion

It should be noted that having these increased abilites does not come without great cost, for example Shepard's weight capacity is 40, boosted at absolute maximum, far lower than anyother Alliance military personel, anything above that greatly increases her cool down period, she has to relie on weapons with high level ultralight materials which drastically decreases the amount of modifications she can put on weaponry, the use of shotguns used by most human Sentinels are totally out of the question for her with the possible exception of a high tier Disciple, as are sniper rifles and heavy assault rifles, if she wants to use her abilities at a reasonable rate. Shepard was trained for squad protection and not open combat, so her combat skill is basic and her melee skill is fair, but these have been increased somewhat by experience. Shepard's Biotic Protector Sphere when standing is phenomemal, protecting her and her allies in a 10 metre radius allowing them to open fire with greatly reduced levels of danger, however when deploying the Sphere Shepard cannot use weapons and trying to use the Sphere while mobile reduces it's effectiveness by 70%

However it must also be noted that although Commander Shepard limits herself to a small number of light weapons when going on a mission, she has amassed a vast range of weapons, equipment, mods and armours from all over the galaxy, which she is a mistress at modifying. She gives these items to squad members who are going on missions, all have said that they have made their jobs much easier than using standard issue

. REAPER CREATURES

1-.Directly Made By Reapers

Husks: Derived from Humans

Cannibals: Derived from Batarians with bio matter from Humans

Reaperised Harvesters: Derived from Harvesters

Marauders: Derived from Turians

Brutes: Made from biomatter from Krogans and Turians

Ravagers: Derived from Rachni Soldiers

Swarmers: Derived from Rachni Workers

Banshees: Derived from Asari 

2 - Created by Intermediates (Collectors)

All Collector Troop Types are originally derived from Protheans, these include the following

General

Captains

Guardians

Assassins

Troopers

The Collectors also deploy the following

Abominations: Derived from Humans

Scions: A central Human frame with biomatter from several other Humans

Praetorians: Large floating spider/octopus/crab like constructs made from up to 30 encased Humans

3 - Created by Unwitting Proxies (Cerberus and Geth)

Cerberus Troop Types are created by the indoctrinated Illusive Man under the delusion he is creating augmented soldiers for his paramilitary, they are all derived from Humans and include the following

Assault Troopers: Males

Centurions: Males

Guardians: Males

Combat Engineers: Males

Nemesises: Females

Phantoms: Females

Dragoons: Males

Geth Troop Types are Geth Platforms filled with Reaper Code when they made what turned out a very one sided alliance with the Reapers, they include the following

Troopers

Missile Troopers

Hunters

Pyros

Primes

Bombers

4 - Crystalation AU, Directly Made By Reapers

Ogres: Derived from Krogan, Heavy Ordanance

Rippers: Derived from Drell, Stealth Melee, Rare

Saboteurs: Derived from Quarians, Tech, Quite Rare

Instigators: Derived from Salarians, Recon, Useless in open combat, Very Rare

Thunderers: Derived from Elcor, Heavy Armour, Very Rare

Blasters: Derived from Human Male Vanguards, Heavy Seige Distruption, Extremely Rare

Provocateurs: Derived from Human Female Sentinels, Command and Control, An absolute nightmare, especially for Liara, Only units directly created by Reapers to keep somewhat some of their original facial identity, Ultra Rare, Thankfully


	12. When It Comes Crashing Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Primarch Victus tells Shepard of a crashed Turian ship on Tuchanka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I will be using canon dialogue, I will also be using AU dialogue

After leaving Liara, Shepard went to the War Room to speak with Primarch Victus. "Primarch, you wanted to see me?", Victus walking about aggitated replied "yes, commander, a Turian ship has crashed on Tuchanka", "crashed on Tuchanka?" queried Shepard, "what was it doing near Tuchanka?", " that's classified, commander, but know this it's mission was critical to galatic peace", "Primarch, if you want me to risk my team you'll have to give me something". Victus turned to the War Room table display facing away from Shepard " I am sorry, commander, I can't give you anything". Shepard stared at him and after a moment he relented and told her "your contact's name is Lieutenant Victus, "Victus?", "my son", Shepard gave a nod of understanding and set a course for Tuchanka.

Shepard had called fo Liara and Garrus to join her and had Cortez pilot the shuttle to the surface, "what do we know, Shepard?" asked Liara, Shepard answered "crashed ship on Tuchanka, our contact's name is Lieutenant Victus". Garrus got off his seat, "Victus, Primarch's son, promoting family without merit can come back to bite you on the arse, what's more the Primarch knows this". The shuttle soon landed and Shepard tried to contact Victus "Shepard to Lieutenant Victus, come in", after some static Victus replied "Victus here", "how are you, we neeed to find you , can send a flare?" asked Shepard. Victus sent up a flare, "we're in deep, commander, please hurry, my men are dying", Shepard called on here squad to follow. The surface of the Krogan homeworld was a rubble strewn wasteland and had been that way since the Dark Ages on Earth, much of the native wildlife was long extinct and what was left was highly predatory. The deployment of the Genophage in 710 C.E, which was very much a double edged sword had greatly curtailed Krogan reproduction rates sending most Krogan into a malaise that only valued nihilism, Shepard may have hated the Genophage, but after knowing the whole history she understood the need for it. Garrus asked the team "a secret Turian mission on Tuchanka, thoughts?", "Nothing has come up over my networks" replied Liara. Liara soon spotted their first opposition, 3 Husks crouched with their backs to the team, "take them out quickly before they can call for reenforcements, Shepard obliged by sending a Warp into the middle of them killing them instantly, the team climbed up a ladder where Shepard saw some Turian corpses strewn around an escape pod "died in the explosion?", "or dragged out to chewen by Husks" finished Liara. They soon heard the sound of gunfire, Shepard crouched behind some rubble and ordered the team to wait, "Turians hanging tough, Reapers don't know we're here", Garrus was gleeful "surprise on our side for once, I like it", Shepard sent an instruction through the link to Liara [I am going to throw a Lift Grenade, get ready], Liara gave a smile, Shepard threw the grenade which lifted the Cannibals into the air leaving them suspended, Liara sent a Throw causing a Biotic Explosion that finished them off, the triumph was instantly ended when a Reaperised Harvester attacked the Turians at their pod. The Turians called for help and Shepard and Liara used their Locust's to weaken the creature while Garrus aimed his Krysae at the beast's head and fired causing to explode in a bright flash, the Turians then thanked the team and told them to go find the other Turian pods

The team went through the long demolished buildings, Garrus stated "Victus is a big name on Palaven, war is expected to run in the Victus blood", Liara replied "children shouldn't be burden by their parents successes any more than their failings", Shepard answered "it doesn't work that way, Liara", "I know, Shepard, believe me I know".The sound of gunfire was again heard and Shepard led the team into the fray "follow my lead", she used her Overload to bring down the shields of the Marauders, stunning them at same time making them easy prey for weapons fire,the accompanying Cannibals were also easily despatched. "Incoming Harvester", the team got ready to take out the beast, but it had released a batch of Husks, Husks in of themselves were never considered that much of a challenge, but on this occassion they were an unwanted distraction. Fotunately the Harvester was quite distant and there was plenty of cover, so after the Husks were dealt with the Harvester was easy prey for the team and the Turians that had been trapped. The team knew that their luck would not hold out and after continuing on and listening to the Turian flight recording, the team found themselves being pinned down by a small number of Maruaders and Cannibals aided by a Harvester, the ruined buildings made it difficult for the team to focus on the Harvester, but the Harvester had no such problem and was able to trap the team with a barrage of cannon fire. Thankfully after getting in enough shots to weaken the creature it flew away leaving the remaining creatures to become fodder. Liara shouted out "shouldn't the Turians inform the Krogan military?", Garrus ansewred "Turian - Krogan aninamosity is intense, it's inborn", "and I need them to work together, lets not complicate things" finished Shepard

The team then came to a clearing and saw a group of Turians beseiged by a large group of Mauraders and Cannibals, "FOR PALAVEN" declared Garrus, "NOT ONE MORE SOLDIER DIES HERE TODAY" added Liara. [Liara, I am going to use my Annihilation Field, get ready], [ready, siame], Shepard then readied her Annihilation Field, which unleashed a massive biotic field all around Shepard, coating the Reaper creatures, lifting some off the ground, draining their energy and draining the shields of others, Liara responded with Warps and Throws to cause huge biotic explosions decimating the unfotunate creatures, all was going well until a Brute charged at Shepard. [Siame, watch out], thanks to Liara's warning Shepard managed to roll out of the way, but this caused her Field to disapate. Shepard's Field was almost at the matriarchal level in power, but being human this caused an extremely, across the board, high cool down period, leaving her with only her armour and sidearms for protection for the next half minute, which could be lethal in this environment. "Garrus, Shepard's in trouble", Garrus was finishing off some Cannibals when he saw the commotion, Shepard on the ground awkwardly with a Brute ready to pounce, Garrus used his Phaeston equipped with Armour Piercing ammo to blast at the beast while Liara covered her bondmate by blasting the Brute with Warps, the combined onslaught caused the creature to fall. A Harvester flew in causing the team to duck for cover, it took the team a fair amount of time to find openings to blast at the monstrousity, but finally they manged to overcome it. Liara tightly hugged Shepard, [I thought I almost lost you, siame], [never, Saff, I will always come back to you]. Lieutenant Victus and his squad jumped down to join the team, Shepard released the hug, "Lieutenant Victus?", "yes", "what happened here?", one of his men grabbed him "he screwed up", "stand down soldier", "these men are dead because of him". Victus then went on to explain that their mission was to diffuse a huge bomb in the Kelpic Valley that Cerberus had, that would be able to wipe out all life for a several hundred mile radius, this was extra disastrous because the Kelpic Valley was the main area for the few breeding females and a detonation could effectively end the Genophage cure before it was deployed. After some reluctance Shepard managed to convince Victus to rally his men to continue the mission. Shepard told Victus she would join him, but first she would have to talk to his father.


	13. And It Hurts Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cerberus bomb will do a large amount of damage if not defused, Shepard leads a team to help Lieutenant Victus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should point out that in dialogue ending with a " followed by a , and then a new " following a space means a transfer of persons speaking dialogue between one and another, for example
> 
> "Initative Persons dialogue", "Respondant Persons Dialogue"
> 
> This will only happen involving dialogue involving 2 people

"Cerberus bomb?...what the hell is going on, commander, and what do the Turians have to do with it?" demanded Admiral Hackett. "I don't know, but we can't have Cerberus detonating that bomb" answered Shepard, "get the lieutenant to come clean and keep me in the loop", "yes, sir". After the call Shepard prepared to head out but was stopped by Liara, "siame, you can't head off so soon, you were nearly trampled, last time", Shepard looked wearilly "I have to, if Cerberus detonates that bomb..", Liara cut her off "Shona, if we, if I lose you, then I don't know what will happen, at least take some time please or send someone else to lead the squad", Liara was nearly panicking, she had spent three years without the person who was for all intents and purposes the other half of her soul and the thought of losing her was causing anxiety. Shepard tried to calm her "hey, sapphire, you know I'll do anything to come back to you, but right now I have to go, the Lieutenant is expecting me to lead the team, but if you want you can keep the link open", Liara knowing the stakes involved acquiesced "alright, but take Vega and Garrus with you, give yourself some large size protection", she said jokingly, Shepard chuckled "OK, I will", she left Liara calmer but still highly worried.

The link between Shepard and Liara was extremely rare even among Asari who were bonded to other Asari and almost totally unheard of between Asari and non Asari bondings, the link was originally established by long and intense melds between the 2 initiated by Liara, the link when fully established permanently linked the 2 minds and made any type of romantic attraction to anyone outside the link totally impossible. The link, unlike regular melding, could only be established between willing participants, who were for a lack of a better term, destined for each other, even non Asari and could only be totally discontected with the death of one partner with extreme pain to the survivor and lingering effects. Liara being Asari could block the link to a great degree, but never fully close it, Shepard being non Asari could only block out more extreme thoughts. The link not only transfered thoughts and memories between the participants, but also experiences to the point where each felt they lived the experiences of the other, the restablishment of the link had made it slightly more intense.

On the shuttle back to the surface Lieutenant Victus made a confession over vidcom about the bomb "it's not Cerberus, it's Turian","Turian" asked Shepard, surprised, Victus continued "it was planted after the Krogan Rebellions to put the Krogan down should they try anything", "I get it, couldn't trust the Krogan to play nice, anyway we have to diffuse that bomb" ,"I'll meet you at these coordinates, Victus out". The shurttle soon came into a scene ressembling the Battle of the Somme with explosions rapidly going off and heavy gunfire, "the air is thick as shit" roared Vega, the team fought their way through the Cerberus troops with Garrus and Vega using their specialised ammo to cut through the opposition, "get to the buildings" roared Vega again. The buildings were another set of ruins where the team got a short respite before hearing "she's here" referring to Shepard coming from a Cerberus trooper in an unnatrual sounding voice. The team prepared for another battle, one that would not be a blind charge as Ceberus was more entrenched, Shepard and Garrus used their Overload abilities to disable the shields of the Centurions and to disable the portable shield emitters that were annoying Vega, Vega used his heavy weaponry to take down the opposing troops while Shepard used her Lash abilitiy to snatch the heavy shields of the Guardians leaving them vulnerable. Shepard could had used her Reave ability in area effect to take out the Guardians more quickly, but she had been by Liara over the link not to over tax herself so soon, she spotted a Combat Engineer about to lay down a turret and ordered Vega to deal with it, which he did with a grenade finishing the Cerberus threat.

The team continued their journey with Garrus lamenting "we defeated the Krogan and then left a bomb on their planet", Vega added "kinda smart, maybe the Turians have more in common with us than I thought", "I don't know if that's a compliment or not". They fought off a few small groups of troopers, nothing major until they started to notice that the troops were retreating back to their shuttles "they're making a break for it" shouted Vega, Shepard knew that the troops no longer being truly human and having no sense of freewill knew that they were being redirected to fallback to the bombs position and not acting on any survival instinct. The team got a look at the bomb with Vega asking "how the hell did they manage to hide it for so long" Shepard replied "it must have been far enough underground, Vega noticed a buzz of shuttles swarming out "they're bugging out we've got to move", they team after taking out another turret position and gaining the schematics for them managed to get to Victus position.Victus was at a console trying to difuse the bomb "I am trying to deactivte the bombs detonator", Shepard told him "don't fuck it up, we won't get another chance", "I know what to do ..and thank you for this chance for redemption", just then 2 of Victus men were taken out by Cerberus, Shepard called out "you deal with the bomb, we'll deal with Cerberus". The team guarded Victus as he worked and noticed the shuttles dropping off Assault and Centurion troopers, Shepard being the least heavy combat efficient of the 3 decided to play a supportinh role by throwing a Proctector Sphere over all 3 of them, providing a great deal of protection, but taking herself out of the fight. Garrus and Vega used all their abilities to halt the enemy, but the constant barrage of enemy gunfire was putting a strain on the Sphere, so much so it was causing Shepard's amp to overheat, Liara was trying to provide support threw the link, but had to tell Shepard to drop the Sphere, Shepard had choosen a Chakram Launcher for the mission and with there still being a few Cerberus troops left, which was made worse when an Atlas came to their aid. Garrus once again used his Overload to take down it's shield while Shepard and Vega used their ordanance to take it a part, the remaining troops were relatively easy. Their problems were not over as while the team were mopping the last of the enemy Victus informed them of a failsafe that had been triggered,"disarm it" Shepard called out, but Victus no longer able to use the console had to disarm it manually, climbing the frame of the large bomb Victus managed to tear off a panel tearing out the detonator, unfortunately the frame helding the bomb gave way causing it to give way and the last words of Tarquin Victus were "victory, at any cost" before he and the now mostly inert bomb fell down the deep pit. The team had secured a victory, but on the shuttle back it felt not like a victory.


	14. Gang Aft Agley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A much needed break at the Citadel doesn't go to plan as there is doubt over Shepard by certain parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gang aft agley is Scots for go often askew
> 
> Public Face: Contact lenses and cosmetic make up Shepard puts on to cover her facial cybernetics when going out in public places like the Citadel, not so much when going into combat

After Shepard gave her report to Hackett she heard an arguement between Primarch Victus and Wrex. "You had on a bomb on my planet?" asked Wrex understandably angerly, Victus tried to calm the situation "that was hundreds of years ago, so much has changed", "not enough to tell me about the bomb, coward". Shepard had to intervine "hey" "some trust on your part could have saved us a lot of trouble, Primarch and Wrex, in the Primarchs position you would have done the same damn thing". Victus was the first to acquiesce "it's alright commander", Wrex added "OK, you've made your point, we have bigger enemies to kill", Shepard finished looking downcast at the War Map console "Yeah we do". Victus finished by saying that he was proud of his son and his sacrifice, Shepard although still angry, but sad said only "yeah".

Dr. Chakwas requested that Shepard come to the med-lab for a check up, which Shepard reluctantly granted, "I don't have time for unneeded check ups, doc" Shepard protested, Chakwas counter protested with "let's see, 2 back to back battles with Reaper controlled forces on an irradiated planet, a near miss with a Brute and an over heated amp, I'd saw it was more than needed", Shepard let Chakwas check her over. Chakwas finished her assessment "there is is no real damage, but your amp will take some time to cool off, I recommend you take a break", Shepard was about to protest when Liara came over the link [she's right, siame, you do need to take some time off, you just been through a traumatic experience], Shepard acquiesced and set a course for the Citadel. The Serpent Nebula was only one relay jump, so they arrived fairly quickly. The Normandy docked at Bay D24 and Shepard told Liara that she would meet her at Apollo's after she put on her "public face".

Shepard went to Apollo's after receiving requests from various people and Apollo's she saw Matriarch Aethyta serving behind the bar, Shepard remember her from the Eternity Bar on Illium. Shepard went to order drinks for her and Liara when Aethyta started to speak to her "I remember you, Shepard, right?" Shepard replied "Matriarch Aethyta, you were on Illium, what are you doing here", "eh, with the Reapers knocking on the door I figured it was time to move on", the conversation went on for a while when Aethyta mentioned something that stunned Shepard "..even had a pureblood daughter with Matriarch Benezia", "wait, your Liara's..father?", "yep, Benezia left before the kid was born", "you should introduce yourself to Liara", "what am I going to do, pull up a chair and say hi, I'm your dad, after 100 years?, besides she has some very shady connections like a girlfriend who used to work for Cerberus", Shepard was annoyed and replied "I worked with them and only to fight the Reapers", "and you're not with them now, believe me I know because if you where you wouldn't get within a lightyear of Liara, anyway when you combine her work with who her mother was, the matriarchs got worried and put out someone to watch her, maybe put a hit on her", "that's not going to happen", "no arguement here", "anyway, you should meet up with Liara". Shepard took the drinks over to Liara's table "see that matriarch over there?" asked Shepard, Liara replied "the one serving at the bar?", "she's your father", "I know", "I hardly to get to surprise you with anything", "I was a good info broker and besides they are other ways", "oh right, the link, anyway you should see her", "I don't know", "Liara, you might never get another chance", "oh, fine". Shepard took Liara to Aethyta and left them to get to know each other telling Liara that she meet her at the Dark Star Lounge.

Later that night Shepard met up with Liara at the Lounge, she leaned in to kiss Liara at the bar, "how did your meeting go?", "splendidly, thank you, Shona, I would never been able to get to know her without you", "hey, Liara, I only set up the meeting, it was you who had to do the hard work", "I know, but it is after so long without knowing about her, well lets just say the thought of approaching her was daunting, but I have established a contact with her, once again thank you", "it's ok, say feel like dancing?", "yes, Shona, I would love that". Shepard and Liara went to the dancefloor, Liara showing her usual grace and elegance, Shepard, although graceful on the battlefield was as graceful as drunk giraffe falling on its arse. After some time, the dancing combined with the heat and drink had caused some of Shepard's make up to smudge, it wasn't too noticible yet, but it soon would be, so Shepard told Liara she was going to the ladies to sort it. The ladies room was fortunately empty and Shepard took off her contact lenses and began to take off the smudged make up. Just then a small group of human women and Asari came in to use the facilities, one of them noticed Shepard give off a tinge of biotics from her forearm and thought nothing of it until she saw Shepard's red electonic eyed, red glowing cybernetically scarred face reflecting in the mirror then all hell broke loose. The group rushed back out with one of them screaming "PROVOOOOCCCCCATTTEEEUUURRRRR" at a level that was heard well above the music in the Lounge, which was fill of people that were evacuated from colonies that had been attacked by Reaper forces with Provocateurs leading the ground assault.The very name of these creatures being screamed out was enough to cause a panic and the Lounge was quickly evacuated with Liara being swept out with them.

The Lounge was in shut down with Shepard trapped inside with absolutely no idea what the woman was screaming about, a Provocateur was one of the Reapers many delights she was yet to experience, only that it was evident that she alone in the Lounge. The report of a such a creatue possibly on the Citadel had caught the attention of C-Sec, who along with regular officers sent in a specialised biotic unit to deal with the creature. Liara noticing that Shepard was not with her asked one of the Lounge staff what was going on as all she got through the link was Shepard's confusion over the situation. The staff member told her "someone reported a Provocateur in the Lounge, so we had to call in C-Sec, personally I don't believe it", Liara then asked "a what?", "a Provocateur, Reaper things made from human female biotics, Reapers do something to them to amp up their biotics and even keep their faces", Liara wondered about this and then she realised what possibly could have caused the panic "OH MERCIFUL GODDESS"

Liara sent a warning through the link [siame, there is a group of Asari C-Sec officers, an elite unit to deal with biotic threats, about to come in and they've been told about some new biotic Reaper creature that might have been found in the club and I think they might have been referring to you], Shepard replied [to me?, but I...damn it], [what is it, siame?], [when I was sorting myself I took off my contacts and one of the ones who came in must have seen my reflection in the mirror and that's how the panic must have started], [siame, do you still have them, your contacts?, [ah, no, I must have lost them in the confusion], [goddess..,siame either get behind something or take yourself back into the ladies and start talking or singing very loudly], [er, Liara, I don't think it's time for a talent show audition], [siame, please, if they see you they will open fire and these are not a bunch of moronic strippers from a seedy bar, they are an elite unit trained to deal with threats that they have been told you might be, please do as I say, it will identify you as not being a Reaper creature without the risk of getting blasted before you are able], [alright, Liara]. The elite unit moved into the club slowly and carefully and as they did so they heard a female voice singing quite loudly from the ladies, they approached the door of the room with guns and biotics at the ready withe leader calling out "whoever is in there come out with your arms raised", Shepard wisely obey the order and slowly came out. When she came out the unit saw the red glowing eyes and scars and with guns and biotics at the ready, the leader very loudly ordered to Shepard "ON THE FLOOR, GET ON THE FLOOR, NOW, NOW", Shepard again obeyed the order and laid flat on her stomach on the floor. The leader ordered one of her unit to put a set of omni-cuffs on Shepard, after which they picked her up and took her out of the club. The team led Shepard through the ward with hurls of abuse coming from the watching throng, "KILL IT", "THESE THINGS KILLED MY ENTIRE FAMILY", "BURN THE BEAST", the C-Sec officers holding the cordon struggled to keep the crowd at bay, as she was being led to an awaiting skycar, even with the link, she never felt so alone.


	15. Awkward Acknowledgments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is taken to the Presidium where she tells some uncomfortable truths

She after being released from C-Sec custody was taken to Councillor Udina's office on the Presidium. Udina starts to tear into her "Shepard, do you know what your little performance has cost? Panic in the wards, a loss of confidence in security, it will take some very hard convincing for the public to have faith in us again". Shepard replied "well maybe if you showed what I really looked like on these fantasy postings you give to the media to laughingly show my return to C-Space then perhaps what happen in that club would not have been an issue", Major Alenko tried to broker some peace "Shepard, these images of you were shown like that to inspire confidence and not have people fear you", "bullshit, they put these images of me like that to save their own reputation, because if they showed the full reality of what happened in the Terminus Systems then the little image have for themselves would disappear faster than Shi'ara's knickers at Janiris". "SHEPARD", Admiral Andreson bellowed out in shock, "I'm sorry sir, but it's the truth, I with 20 others laid on that planet before Cerberus picked up my body, oh, by the way they're still there for you to collect, then they or rather Miranda Lawson at the behest of a still relatively sane Illusive Man started to work to fix my body, but it was so badly damaged they had to replace over 45% of it", "pity they didn't do something about your attitude" Udina injerjected. Anderson then defended Shepard, "Udina, that's enough", Shepard replied "it's ok sir, this idiot and the other ones like him have no real idea what goes on out there, they just get the sanitised reports, maybe if he actually saw it for himself instead of gladhanding to these other idiots on the Council, he would know who bad it really can be out there." Shepard continued her tirade "at these Council proceedings it must be like Paddy McGinty meets the 3 Stoogies"

Udina, if not for his ego would be able to see the truth in what Shepard was saying, "Shepard, I warn you, the consequences of......, Shepard interrupted him "oh, please the others barely even know you're there half the time and that's not when they're being lead by their dicks by Tevos, when I was out putting a stop to the threat to our colonies in Terminus and it has to be added the Traverse I saw not one fucking Alliance or Council ship giving any type of aid". She went on "they fucking left millions of our people to die and you want to have a go at me because I won't act like some dress up doll, fuck you, if the people learned you did next to nothing and the colonies were saved by a Cerberus ship under the command of someone you left to the wolves, well". At this point Anderson had to intervine "Shepard, it's not that simple, we can't go into the Terminus with a full fleet without starting a war, you know that", Shepard looked remorseful "I know Admiral, but it's just when I've been risking not only my life, but the lives of others in an important cause, then this idiot wants to rake me over the coals for some drunk woman panicking", "Shepard, what you have to remember is that these people were traumatised and seeing your unusual look would have set them off, I know you have yet to see these Provocateurs, but from what we've been told; unlike the other things the Reapers make, they keep, although mutated, their original faces, you know how bad it must be to have these Reaper things chase down and tear apart your family and that's when all traces of who they were have been erased, now imagine what it would be like to see that and being able to tell that the thing doing it was once a wife, mother, sister or daughter of your own".

Shepard had to admit that Anderson had a point, but she also had a final point of her own to to make "yeah, I get that, but I want how I actually look like to made known, because I am no longer going to cover myself up as if I should be ashamed nor am I going to have surgery, I have had enough over the last 3 years and if I have more it will be for a life threatening reason and cosmetic surgery is not one and by the way Udina, you should know I have total rights over my own body and that any cosmetic surgery is very likely to eventually fail, just in case you're thinking of anything". Anderson then had to admit she was right, Udina tried to protest "Anderson..", Anderson cut him off, "what are we going to do? cut her up like she's some piece of meat we own?". Udina remained silent knowing he was beat, Anderson then turned to Shepard "we'll get it sorted, but for now I think it's best if you leave the Citadel for the time being, not for too long because we'll need you back here", Shepard said that she would see Anderson later and made her way back to the Normandy.

"Oh, fuck, yes, yes, oh god, yes" Shona groaned with ectasy as Liara rapidly thrust the strap on in and out of her. The events of the last few days had made it it clear how important it was to get as much time with each other as possible. Liara grabbed Shona's long dark hair and pulled Shona back towards her, "who do you belong to, slave?" asked Liara, lustfully, Shona replied in near delirium "you, mistress, I belong only to you" as Liara kept thrusting in and out of her. Liara stole a kiss fom Shona's mouth when Shona turned her head back towards Liara as Liara kept on thrusting the strap on into Shona and using one hand to stroke Shona's breasts. They were the slaves and mistresses of each other love and passion, if someone had told Shona just 5 years ago that she would be in this type of intimate position she would had laughed at them, not being attracted to females or most Asari in general, but ever since she saw Liara in that bubble on Therum something stirred in her, something that grew into love, she knew she wanted the spend her life with Liara and have children with her, which was biologically possible as Asari could be impregnated by and have children with any sentient species, male or female. One of Liara's fantasises was that she wished that the strap on she was using was not some mere synthetic appendange and only while they were making love, she wouldn't want it to become a full time part of her anatomy, that it would become real, so that she could cum into Shona's womb and impregnate her. Liara wanted to have children by Shona just as much as Shona wanted to have children by her and although it was established that humans could have hybrid children with most races, unfortunately with the Asari, it was still a one way process, only the Asari could be impregnated. Liara intiated a meld with Shona and the ectasy for both intensified, after they both climaxed they fell back down on the bed and fell asleep in each others embrace, happy in this brief moment. There would be plenty of time for a passionate kiss or a romantic hug, but not so much for this level of erotic intimacy during this war with Shona's duties and Liara's new responsibilites and that was the true awkward acknowledgement.

CODEX ENTRY (PRIVATE)

INTIMATCY

Shona despite being in a long term relationship with an Asari still identifies, and for all intents and purposes is a straight, hetrosexual woman and prefers to have intimate relationships in this manner. Although adventurous in her intimacy with Liara and will be more than happy to perform intimate acts that all female couples do with Liara, she prefers it when Liara is intimate with her in the same way that a male would be, with Liara using devices to accommodate this


	16. Real Heavy Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cure for the Genophage is yet to be finalised and Shepard decides to honour a request from the Elcor ambassador

Shepard while she was on the Citadel had received numerous requests for aid and one of the most saddest came from the Elcor ambassador, who had asked for assistance in evacuating his people from the Reaper onslaught, but had been turned down by the other governments on the Citadel. Shepard had decided to help the Elcor as much as she could and took the Normandy from the Citadel to Dekuuna in the Silean Nebula. The Silean Nebula despite being the home cluster of the Elcor was mostly colonised by the Asari, this was because of 2 reasons, first the Elcor being a conservative people didn't like to leave the familiar and second most garden worlds did not have the heavy gravity that the Elcor required. Shepard asked Liara about Dekuuna, "siame, the Elcor homeworld has 4 times the gravity of Earth or Thessia, you will required some specialised equippment", "don't worry, saff, the Normandy is quite well stocked", "please siame, I don't think you appreciate the, ahem, gravity of the situation", "making jokes there?, saff, I didn't know you had it in you to have a comedy routine", Liara gently slapped Shepard on the arm, but went being serious again "this is serious, siame, the gravity will slow down your speed greatly,if they is a heavy Reaper presence down there you will need all your strength to react quickly as possible as you wont be able to roll out of the way as you can on most environments", "yeah, the heavy gravity will make that almost impossible", "you will be only be able to stay on Dekuuna a short time as your brain won't be able to maintain sufficent blood flow, even with your cybernetic upgrades, our 2 species can only survive indefinitely naturally in an up to 2 G environment, with Asari having a slight advantage as Thessia has a slightly heavier gravity than Earth".

Shepard took an all alliance team with her, meaning Vega and Ashley. Because of Dekuuna gravity the team had to wear heavy armour with hydraulics to counteract the effects, but even with the armour they could feel the gravity's effects. Shepard met up with the Elcor administrator in charge of evacuating one of their last cities "with great joy and relief, I am glad to be receiving your assistance, commander", Shepard replied "think nothing of it, we all need to help each other out at this time". Shepard turned to her team "guys, we'll be taking a more defensive position than and I need you both to take point at the shield generators, make sure the engineers at those generators remain safe", Vega replied "you got it" with Ashley adding "aye, aye,ma'am". Shepard once again confered with the administrator who put her in charge of an Elcor battalion to defend the space port. Elcor troops despite not being the quickest or the most aggressive had one huge advantage, the could carry heavy weaponry on their backs, which were aided by V.I's, giving them the living tanks moniker. Shepard instructed the battallion to guard the evacueess as they were boarding the transports, the evacuees were mostly elders and parents with children, although the children were probably twice the weight of Shepard.

The Elcor evacuees were being led by the elders as was their societal tradition, with adults taking a defensive position around the children as they boarded the evacuation transports. The transports were being boarded when the Reapers attacked, Shepard called out "get ready", the battalion leader gave "with great anticipation, we will defend these transports", the Reapers mainly Husks and Mauraders, who were being quickly cut down by the gravity and the Elcor weaponry, wave after wave were being cut down. Vega came over the com "commander, this maybe the easiest assignment yet, these Elcor weapons are cutting the Reaper fucks down, it looks like.......HOLY FUCK, Shepard demanded to know what Vega was seeing, "commander, it's the Reapers, they've converted some Elcor into Reaper troops, they have big fucking guns on their sides and real heavy armour. The sound of thunder could be slowly heard approaching as the Reaperised Elcor neared the space port, Vega readied his Typhoon with armour piercing mods, but was difficult even for him to lift it in this gavational environment.

"Commander, those Thunderers are get closer" shouted Vega in the com-link, "Thunderers?" asked Shepard, "well they sound like thunder when they move" replied Vega. They were only a handful of Thunderers, but it was more than enough, Vega used his Typhoon to open fire on the first Thunderer , but it was only slowing it down, the huge creature retaliated by blasting the shield generator, blowing it to bits and killing the Elcor engineering team. Vega only managed to get away thanks to the sheer slowness of the attacking creatures, it seem that the creatures had one fatal flaw, they were even slower than the Elcor they were derived from, unfortunately they were far better armed. Shepard heard the commotion and shouted into the com "Vega, are you there, are you all right?, "yeah, commander, but the generator has been blown away and the engineers are dead", Shepard then called Ashley "Ash, what's the situation?", "commander, that other generator being blown has caused a strain on the shields, we don't know longer they'll hold". Shepard called for Vega to join her at the second generator, she then rushed to the generator to see if she could help the engineering team with repairs, but when she got there she was told by senior engineer "with dismay, the other generator is destroyed, this generator will not be able to hold even at peak efficiency, we must pull back". Shepard knowing the hopelessness of the situation had to agree with the engineer and ordered her team and the engineering team to retreat back to the space port.

Shepard asked her team for recommendations, Vega answered first " it's bad commander, but it's not the Thunderers that are making it that way, sure they'd be tough in any environment, it's the gravity it's making our weapons too heavy to be steady and as for throwing grenades, forget about it, because the throw range is shorter thanks to the gravity the impact would be as dengerous to us as to them". Ashley then backed Vega "Vega's right, ma'am, the bullets that are hitting them are getting through, but because so few are, we are only slowing them down, in our gravational envitonment because we can aim better they'd be shredded, sure it would take a lot, but they'd be shredded. to which Vega added "yeah as long as they don't get a good aim with these big fucking guns". Shepard then contacted the Elcor administrator and asked about the evacuation "with great anger and sadness, only half our transports have departed and the enemy has destroyed all but one that remains". Shepard told her team to follow her to the last transport so they could help with the last remaining evacuees. When she got there she saw the terrible devastion of burning transports and dead Elcor evacuees, she hated what the Reapers were doing to these gentle people, whose world which was a haven of grassy plains and deep forests being torn apart and that they forced some of their own people to do it through Reaperisation made the hatred even more intense. This was quite simply pure and total unadultered evil, no excuse could be made for the Reapers actions and any reason they had or would give to try to justify them was total bullshit like Sovereign's little diatribe on Virmire. Although some of the Elcor battalion had been killed fighting their Reaperised brethern there was enough to hold out until the transport got away with help from the team.

"Do you both still have your Carnage abilities?" asked Shepard, both answered yes, she then stated "I'm going to use Invasion to distrupt that Thunderer closing in on the transport when you see it sparking orange, fire. Shepard then released her Invasion which shut the Thunderers guns, Vega and Ashley now having more time to aim fired their Carnage blasts tearing through it's armour and destroying it. The Elcor battalion was in stalement with the remaing Thunderers, which only a few were left, the problem was that the battalions ammo was starting to run out thanks to the constant waves of Husks and Mauraders beforehand and their sheilds were failing. Shepard tried to help out with her Shield Boost abilty which recharged their shields and ordered her team to provide covering fire. This helped a great deal as the batallion reduced the enemy even further as the transport made it's escape, however one them had realised where the batallions support was coming from and started to aim at Shepard, one of the batallion came in to protect Shepard as they told her to abandon her position, which she did, unfortunately the Thunderer managed to kill the protecting Elcor before itself was destroyed by the other Elcor, Shepard managed to get away from the blast radius but was caught in the aftershock knocking her off her feet, something that could be deadly in this environment, fotunately her specialised armour protected her, unfortunately she was knocked out cold. Vega noticed this "SHEPARD" he called out and he and Ashley rushed in as much they could to her side, Vega called for a pick up "Esteban, Shepard's down, we need an e-vac", Ashley asked the batallion leader about the situation, the leader replied "joy mixed with concern, the last transport is away, we will deal with the last of our unfortunate brethern, you must escape". Cortez soon arrived with the shuttle and the team helped put Shepard abord it.

CODEX ENTRY

THUNDERERS

Thunderers are the light tank division of the Reaper armies created from captured Elcor. They are heavly armoured with side mounted cannons, their purpose is anti vehicle assault and heavy assault and are extremely tough to take down. Their tendency to thunder across the landscape is what gives them their name


	17. Love And Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is brought back from Dekuuna unconscious and Liara is concerned

The shuttle docked in the Normandy's hangar bay with Ashley and Vega taking Shepard to med-bay.Dr. Chakwas was concerned more than usual for her adoptive niece and Liara was beside herself with worry, in the past fortnight her siame was involved in 2 battles on that irradiated rubble strewn dump that the Krogan laughingly call a homeworld, even most Krogan admitted that was true, mistaken for a Reaper creature and almost shot for, an assumption Liara herself was guilty of making and now trying to help the Elcor when everybody else had turned them down. Liara was livid as well as worried about Shepard's current condition, livid not at Shepard per se as being a Sentinel, it was Shepard's role to provide squad support or her offering to aid the Elcor in theIr time of need, doing such was one of the reasons Liara loved her. What made Liara livid was firstly the idiotic Council, even as the Galaxy was crumbling all around them, the original members, her own people and the Salarians were doing next to nothing while the two other members, her siame's people and the Turians were dying in the millions and that even the fact that the Reapers had invaded Asari and Salarian colony worlds was not enough make them become more involved

The fact that no other race had bothered to go to the Elcor's aid was the second thing that bothered her, how could they not see that the races of the galaxy needed to stand as one during this war? This fact along with Shepard being the only one to try and provide aid and being hit by a shockblast that could easily have killed her made Liara furious at the galaxy's races obvious self interests. She had been told by Ashley that the heavy gravity, even with the specialised suits, had greatly hindered them to the point that they could only provide provisional support and that only half the transports at the space port they were assisting at had made it off planet, it was even worse at other space ports on Dekuuna, with sometimes hardly any transports manage to escape. The Elcor homeworld was large for a garden world, the fact what had caused it's heavy gravity, but it was underpopulated for such a world with a population of only 2.5 billion before the war and the fact they were probably the least spread out of the galatic races did not help matters for their survival, sure the Hanar didn't have a great deal of worlds under their control, but they could live on ocean worlds under the control of others, mostly human, oddly enough and the Volus needed ammonia based worlds restricting their colonistation, but they had more worlds under their control, the only galatic races in a worse position for survival were the Quarians and Drell, both had lost their homeworlds centuries ago.

The most important thing that made her livid was the fact that her siame was in med-bay thanks to selfishness of others, she went to med bay to ask Chakwas about Shona's condition, Chakwas told her "Shepard has suffered 3 cracked ribs, slight loss of blood flow, a relatively light concussion and relatively being the word and some other minor injuries, I am recommending that she stays in med-bay sedated for the next 24 hours at least", "is that necessary?, "well with the other ailments from Tuchanka not being fully healed, yes it is". Liara then stayed with Shepard for a while when Dr. Chakwas insisted that Liara herself should get some rest and that Shona would be fine. Fine, there was a word, Liara knew that Shepard would come out of med-bay completely recovered, but how long would it be before she was back in there again? How long would it be before the demands of the galaxy would cause Shona to do something that get even more badly injured or worse? Liara knew that Shona's nature was to help those in need even at the cost of her own safety, this was a reason Liara loved her, but it was also, goddess forbid, a reason why she could hate her, but this was tempered by how at times she despised the galaxy as a whole and especially the Council. There was a joke on a galactic scale, the Council, the supposed guardians of galactic order, they had allowed the Terminus Systems to become a haven of criminality, allowed the Batarians to continue their vile slave trade, left the Quarians to more or less die and were now mired in indecision while whole worlds were being destroyed.

She would not allow Shona to carry the burdens of the galaxy alone, she would not allow her siame's sweet spirit to be twisted by what she had experienced and was forced to do to protect the innocent. Although it would allow Liara, hopefully, to spend far more time with Shona, possibly the rest of her long life, it was bad enough that Shona's body had been twisted by cybernetics without her spirit being twisted. Liara vowed from that moment that anyone or anything tried to twist her siame would be torn asunder.


	18. The Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last the Genophage cure is ready

After 2 days Shepard left med-bay and had the Normandy heading once again for the Ismar Frontier to meet with the Matterhorn, on the way she had spoken with Wrex "so Wrex, are you ready for this?", Wrex answered "ready?, our people had been ready for this for 1000 years, of course I'm ready", he went on to continue "we might be curing the Genophage, but that doesn't mean we're going to make the same mistake as last time, the one that lead to the Genophage, this is a one time only cycle". Wrex was one of the few Krogan who understood that the Genophage wasn't the only plague that affected the Krogan, the constant cycle of clan violence was something else that had to end, what would be the point if more Krogan children were born healthy if their only future was the carnage of clan warfare or some over ambitious warlord's campaign to conquer the stars, no, the Krogan future would be something more and his uniting the clans was the first step. The Normandy had received the shuttle from the Matterhorn containing Eve, Mordin and Wix and were now headed to the Krogan DMZ.

The Normandy was approaching Tuchanka when Joker called out "hostiles at the landing zone", Shepard responded "what is it, Joker?, "we got Reapers at the landing sight, we'll need to disembark somewhere else", "keep eyes on the Shroud, I'll gather everyone in the war room". When she got to the war room, Mordin told the room "new form of Reaper, problematic", Wrex was outraged "if they want a fight they've just got one". Shepard turned to Victus "Primarch, we're going to need your help", Victus wearily replied "that maybe a problem, our losses on Palaven have been catastrophic", "if you want Krogan help, we need your help here", "what is it that you need", "Primarch you send your fighters while Wrex's forces attack from the ground and we can lure the Reaper away from the Shroud, it's now or never", Wrex responded "NOW, the Genophage ends today". With that the war room emptied and Shepard got a call from Joker about a Q.E.C request from a Salarian dalatrass, she went to the Q.E.C, "dalatrass, what can I do for you?", "I understand you've reached Tuchanka and that Solis and Wiks have suggested using the Shroud", "have you been spying on us, dalatrass?, "hardly, the Shroud is the only viable option you have, commander, do you honestly believe curing the Genophage will result in lasting peace?, "no, the Krogan are too violent", "then allow me to offer you a solution, years ago our operatives sabotaged the Shroud, so that what you're attempting would fail, all you need do is keep Solis or Wiks from repairing it", "so sabotage the cure for Salarian aid on the Crucible?, "think about it, commander, that's all I am saying", with that communication ended.

Concern over the curing of the Genophage was understandable as the need for the deployment of the bio-weapon in 710 was to stop the Krogan outbreeding and conquering the galaxy after they started the Krogan Rebellions. The rebellions started after they attempted to colonise the Asari colony world of Lusia and refused to leave, the tide was turned against the Krogan only after the Turians joined in the fight against them. Although much of the galaxy saw the Krogan of today as figures of pity concerning their declining population, they knew that the Krogan did bring it on themselves and continued to do so with their violent attitudes. The galaxy knew that they were some Krogan who saw themselves as conquering warlords and with the Genophage about to be potentionally cured, the galaxy would have to keep a careful watch on such individuals, but they also knew they were Krogan like Wrex who genuinely wanted change and that was a reason for hope

On the shuttle to the surface the atmosphere was tense, but hopeful, Wrex declared " I've ordered the clans to meet in the Hollows, it's our sacred meeting place, this will be the defining moment of Krogan history", Mordin responded "Krogan had many defining moments, hope this one less bloody", at the same time Eve noticed Shepard with a concerned look on her face, "you look apprehensive, commander, "just worried about what's about to happen", "don't worry, commander, some things are destined to define us, this is one of them". With that the shuttle was rocked with a blast as they were about to land, Wrex was the first to get out and blasted a Husk with his Eviserator, "Shepard, you take care of the meeting place, I'll meet up with the other clans, don't let them near the female". Shepard and Liara with Garrus got out to battle the attacking creatures, luckly they were all Husks, so the fight didn't last long, Shepard often wondered why the Reapers made such almost useless creatures out of captured humans, the Banshees were far stronger and endurable than the Asari they were derived from and the Marauders were much more fluid than the Turians that they they derived from, but the Husks were like retarded attack dogs, then she remembered the various Cerberus trooper types and then she thought why put in too much effort when you got an idiot to do it for you, referring to the Illusive Man.

The Krogan led by Wrex, who had been battling Husks nearby came into the meeting area with Wrex declaring "they'll sing battle songs about this one day, Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil", when Wrex met up with Shepard another group of Krogan showed up with leader demanding "who brought the Salarians here?, no one said anything about this". Shepard asked the leader firm "who are you?", "Urdnot Wreave, brood brother to our illustrious leader", Wrex then answered "Wreave and I share the same mother and nothing else" to which Wreave retorted "to which I am thankful, we drown our enemies in a geyser of their own blood, we don't invite them into our home". Shepard tried to reason with Wreave, "these Salarians are with me, they're here to help", to which Wreave aggressively retorted "as long as it involves a bullet in the head, time for some payback", Wreave was interrupted by a headbutt from Wrex, "stand down, Wreave", Wreave was the symbol of every justification for the Genophage. The stand off between the brothers was ended with a bellow "ENOUGH", to which Eve came in to address the crowd "you can stay here and let old wounds fester like Krogan have always done or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy and give a new future to our children, I choose to fight, who will join me?". Shepard answered "I will", to which Wrex joined "and so will I, hold your heads high like true Krogan, there's a Reaper that needs killing". The Krogan roared in approval and followed Wrex.

On the way to the Shroud, Shepard was contemplating what the dalatrass had said to her and Wreaves behaviour at the Hollows and was considering going along with the dalatrasses plan, but her sense of fairness and friendship with Wrex overrode this, Eve noticed Shepard worried look, "you got that look in your eye again, commander, what's troubling you?", "the dalatrass tried to cut a secret deal with me", Wrex piped up, "what kind of deal?", Shepard played the recording. Wrex to say the least was less than pleased "and she thought we wouldn't know better?", Eve added "you've just spared us another genocide, commander", Wrex countinued "I guess you really did come back, I had my doubts, you know. Shepard could feel Liara's fury through the link [that selfish Salarian, her paranoia could have ended our fight before it could really begin], [I know, and I almost went along with it, I am sorry, Liara], [don't be, you could never followed it through, it's not in you]. The convoy came to halt, Wrex demanded to know what the delay was, Shepard , Liara and Garrus got out with Garrus looking at the Reaper Destroyer "look at the Reaper, it's the end of days out there". Shepard was informed by a scout that the road was out when a Turian fighter squadron flew past on the way to the Reaper, Shepard informed the squadron leader that they had been delayed and to hold back, the leader replied "negative, commander, our flight plan is locked". The fight ended badly for the Turian squadron with one of the fighters being hit by the Reaper and losing control crashing into the convoy destroying all but 2 of the Tomkah's, Shepard called out "get the female out of here", the 2 Tomkahs sped off and Shepard was informed by Squadron leader that they were getting pummeled, Shepard responded "pull out, we'll find another way to the Shroud", the team was left alone to find the way.

CODEX ENTRY

FIGHTER SQUADRONS

During the First Contact War, the Turians noticed that Humans were deploying large dreadnought type vessels against them, but instead of engaging in battle, they held back and deployed swarms of one man craft that caused devastation to the Turians. After the armistice, the Turians looked into building their own Carrier and Fighter units and while Humans are the still the aces of fighter warfare, both the Turians and Asari are rapidly catching up


	19. The Ruins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes it's way through Tuchanka's ruins to catch up with Wrex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this version of events the Ravagers are replaced by Ogres
> 
> Think of them as Reaper rocket troops, the Ravagers as mobile light artillery and the Thunderers as heavy artillery
> 
> Think of them as Reaper versions of Kett Behemoths except they don't suffer from a Blood Rage loop that causes insanity and not quite as endurable, but still extremely tough

Garrus spotted an entrance leading to some tunnels to which he instructed the team "I see a way out of here, through these tunnels". The team followed him into the near pitch dark tunnels and turned on the lights on their weapons. Shepard noticed some paintings on the walls, to which Liara said "this shows the Krogan had an artistic side, this implies culture", Garrus replied "the operative word being had, now they have rubble". Shepard's com came on with Wrex's voice, "where did you end up?", "we're in some tunnels, Wrex, they are paintings on the walls", Eve came over the com, "that's the city of the ancients, no maps exist, it's been abandoned for thousands of years". The ground suddenly shook and Shepard asked is the ground shaking where you are?, Wrex answered "not up here", Eve interjected "it could be something else, it is said that Kalros, the mother of all Thresher Maws lives in this area". That sent a surge of panic through Shepard that Liara felt through the link, [I am here, siame, do not worry, I will guide you], Shepard started to calm down, Liara knew how the incident on Akuze affected Shepard, Wrex come back over the com "that's another reason for you to get out of there, step on it". The team quickly, but quietly made their way out of the tunnels and were near a flight of stairs when Garrus called out "there's a dead Krogan here", Shepard looked at the body and noticed the numerous augmentations, "yeah, but it's been altered", Shepard got back on the com to Wrex "Wrex, we've just discovered a Krogan body, but it's been Reaperised", Wrex growled "you mean one of those Brute things?", "No, this was totally Krogan and by the looks at what the Reapers did to the body, I'd said they had more intentions for this creature than for it to simply charge like a Brute", "what do you mean?", "well it has an attachment to place removable weaponry on it's left arm and by what I can make out it seems to have some sort of targeting system on it's face", Wrex roared loudly "those things are not going to use my people like that, just as we cure the Genophage, I'll see you topside, Shepard", with that the team made the way up the stairs to the daylight.

The team made it to the top of the stairs when Liara stated "in my younger days, I would have loved to have the studied these ruins", Shepard silently chuckled at this and Liara heard through the link [saff, you are in your younger days and will be for quite a while], Liara replied [oh, you know what I meant], Shepard gave a slight smirk and went to to speak on the com, "Wrex, we've made it outside and we're seeing what looks like an ancient plaza with plant life", Eve interjected "Tuchanka used to a place full of beauty, hopefully it can be again", Shepard replied "yeah....FUCK", Wrex came over the com, "Shepard what is it?", "2 Ogres and bunch of Cannibals just dropped in, gotta go". The Ogres rockets had caused the team to dive for cover and they were pinned down by the Cannibals, Shepard ordered Garrus to take out a couple of the Cannibals, who went to feast on their fallen comrades, Cannibals were perhaps the least intelligent of the Reaper creatures as they would always abandon a fight to feast on a fallen comrade, which they were doing here, "Liara, I need your help to take out these Ogres", "coming, Shona", the pair made their way closer to the Ogres, carefully trying to keep out of their line of sight, which wasn't easy thanks to the Ogres targeting systems.Shepard released a Neural Shock on the ogres to incapacitate the Ogres while Liara fling out a Warp, it did damage to the Ogres, but it was not enough to finish them off. The pair had to move quickly as more rockets were fired at them, they both used their modified Locusts to wear down the Ogres armour, moving quickly between cover, Garrus was left alone to deal with the Cannibals, but thankfully they're werent that many and they were not exactly a challenge being so easily distracted. The Ogres armour being significantly weakened, Shepard released an area Reave with Liara combining it with another Warp to create a biotic explosion that finally finished off the Ogres

The team fought more skrimishes with more Reaper creatures including a Brute and 2 more Ogres before reaching a bridge leading to a memorial arena, Wrex called for them to get down and get in the Tomkah, but this was interrupted by the appearance of Kalros that caused the Tomkahs to speed off while Shepard's team made their way into the arena. Shepard had the misfortune to see Thresher Maws on Akuze, but nothing on the scale of Kalros, the size of the creature was unbelievable. The team were attacked by Husks, Cannibals and Marauders, Marauders were when Reaper creatures started to become challenging as they had Shields, were quite fluid and could coat other Reaper creatures in a sort of chitinous armour. Shepard used their Overload abilities to disable their Shields while Liara used a Singularity to trap some Husks and Cannibals then releasing a Warp to finish them off, although the fight was quite challenging, thanks to the Marauders, but it was quickly over, Wrex ordered the team to get into the Tomkah before Kalros reached them, they managed to get in just in time, but Wreave's Tomkah was not so lucky.

CODEX ENTRY

OGRES

Ogres are Reaperised Krogan turned into rocket troopers that usually work in teams of 3 or 4, they are armed with arm infused rocket launchers and are deployed as heavy assault support. They name comes from the already ogre like appearance of the Krogan


	20. The Shroud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes to the Shroud, but a Reaper Destroyer is in the way

The last Tomkah of the Krogan convoy made it's way to an area near the Shroud when all the passengers got out and surveyed the situation. "Now that we're the only ones to make it, we need to come up with a new strategy, Wrex, you said something about Kalross?", Shepard exclaimed, Wrex told Shepard "it was her idea, not mine", Eve spoke up "we lure her to the Reaper", Shepard asked " how do we do that?", "they are 2 maw hammers that have to be activated, once done so Kalross will come", "well it's not the craziest idea I've heard, I've flown through the Omega 4 relay", Shepard felt a frightened chill through the link, [don't remind me, siame], Shepard gave Liara a reassuring smile. "And while you're doing that, Wiks and I will go to the lab to make preparations" Mordin informed, right then Shepard closed proceedings by telling eveyone "let's get this done", just then Reaper drop pods smashed into the ground releasing a batch of Ogres. Wrex readied his shotgun and told Grunt "with me, whelp, the rest of you get going". The Krogan charged the Ogres with Wrex declaring "I AM URDNOT WREX AND THIS IS MY PLANET", the Salarians and Eve made for a side entrance while Shepard team made for the hammers.

As they climbed up to the entrance way more Reaper drop pods hit the ground releasing Cannibals, Snepard's team because of near exhaustion had a bit of a harder time than usual dealing with them with Wrex coming over Shepard's com "Are you at the hammers yet?", "I am a little busy , Wrex", "Luckly I'm here, Ideal with it, you get to the Shroud", but there was no need as the last of the Cannibals was defeated. The team made their way to the bridge leading to an entrance when the Destroyer fired it's beam at the bridge destroying it, the team onjust got away by jumping on off the bridge and landing in a pile on the ground below. "Did we just get hit by a Reaper?" asked Liara in shock, "Consider that practice" Shepard answered, the team made their way to the entrace path using cover that was quickly destroyed by the Destroyers beam, the team made it to the end of the path when a new squadron of Turian fighters came in to distract the Destroyer enabling the team to get to the hammers, Liara gave out a prayer "Goddess be with them". The fighters distacted the Destroyer, but an orbiting Reaper Troop Ship kept releasing drop pods which released Brutes which the team had to avoid along with the Destroyers legs. This made the journey to the first hammer more hazardous as they had to fight off the Brutes as well as avoid the Destroyers legs. Liara was getting worried, "siame, we're running out of room", Shepard tried to reassure her, but was starting to feel the pressure herself. Shepard lauched a Homing Grenade at some Brutes that stunned them long enough to clear a path to the first hammer. The first hammer was activated, then after a mad dash the second one was activated, Shepard screamed "get back to the truck, I'll deal with the cure". The Destroyer then turned it's attention to Kalros, as she made her way to the Destroyer, Kalros launched out of the ground grabbing the Destroyer with it's mouth. The Destroyer then swung around shaking off Kalros and fired it's beam at the massive creature as it made it's way back underground, Kalros then sprung back up behind the destroyer wrapping itself around the Destroyer dragging it underground.

Shepard went to the Shroud labs to meet the Salarians, "is the cure ready?", "yes" answered Mordin, "but it has to be distributed manually", Shepard looked at the tower in slight shock "you're going up there?", Wiks answered "no, I am", "you can't go up there either of you, this place is falling apart", "no choice, only way to distribute cure", "there has to be another way", "no, only way, I've spent my entire life destroying the natural fabric of the universe, time to make amends". The younger Salarian then activate the lift to the top of the tower before any more could be said, as Shepard and Mordin watched the lift ascend they started to get out of the crumbling building and met the others outside. Wrex and the others watched the cure being dispursed ending 1476 years of misery for the Krogan people, but Wrex and the Salarians had a surprise put in place, just in case some future warlord got any ideas. The Tomkah took the team back to the Hollows as the Shroud crumbled apart, After disembarking Eve adressed Shepard "what you've done here, commander, is brought back hope, but there is something you should know, we made sure you brought hope to the people of Tuchanka, not over ambitious warlords who'd put our children through their pointless wars", Mordin continued "yes, every female now able to lay healthy clutches, just limited on how many and how often. Wrex finished off "yeah, needed an insurance policy in case some pyjak got some ideas should something happen to me, you tell the Primarch we'll be sending troops to Palaven and when your ready to kick the Reapers off Earth, you give us a call". Shepard thanked Wrex and the team made their way back to the shuttle to the Normandy.


	21. Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although she doesn't have nightmares of the ashen forest, she stills has nightmares that almost break her psyche

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be some erotic intimacy in this chapter, not much, as this is not the direction I intend for this story
> 
> I will not, nor will I ever, in this or any future story, being using the word smut to describe intimacy between 2 people, smut is a word used to describe an old episode of the Benny Hill show, a tabloid sex expose or a drunken fumble between 2 people after the clubs close, it should not be used for 2 people who deeply care for each other

Shepard said her goodbyes to the departing Primarch, who told her the Turian fleets would be there for Earth, when Garrus notices her slumped on the war map display, "you should get some sleep", Shepard answered "I'll sleep when I'm dead", "you'll need a clear head to fight this war, go on, I'll make sure Joker doesn't launch any suicide missions". With that Shepard made her way out of the war room to her private terminal in the CIC. While checking her messages Traynor asked her "commander, can I ask you a personal question?", "yeah, sure", "when did you know, when did you come out?", "know?, come out?", "that you were a lesbian?", "I didn't and I haven't, I am not a lesbian". Traynor was confused, "but you're in a long term relationship with Dr. T'Soni", "yes, and I plan to spend my life with her", "I don't understand, you're with Dr. T'Soni and you say you're not a lesbian?". Shepard sighed as she started to explain "up until I started my relationship with Liara, my previous relationships had been with males, not always human, but always males, I have never been attracted to females of any race and I am still not, even the vast majority of Asari don't do anything for me, but let's just say Liara was one of the few that did", "I still don't understand, isn't Dr. T'Soni technically female?, "anatomically the Asari body is almost sexually identical to the human female body, they don't spring dicks to fuck female partners like it's portrayed in some of the more idiotic erotic fiction, besides the melding and Asari head tentacles being an erogenous zone, Asari/human female couples interact intimately the same way as fully human female couples do". Shepard went on "although we consider them female, for more reasons than just appearance, you have to remember that as a mono gendered race, they don't have the same concepts of gender and sexuality as we do, the basic codex on the Asari tells you that they can reproduce with any race and with any gender, but what it does not tell you is that they can attract anyone of any sexuality even straight women and gay men and that is what, besides many other things, which I am not going to tell you about, is what attracted me to Liara". Traynor still somewhat confused, but starting to understand said "thanks, commander, I think I am starting to get it", "anytime, specialist", Shepard then made her way to the lift to her cabin.

Shepard got to her cabin with Liara waiting for her dressed in a white silk gown sitting on the couch, Liara asked Shona "how did it go with the Primarch?", "it went well, he's promised his support for the war effort", "that's good, we need all the help with so many worlds being ravaged", "yeah", said Shona sadly, she then tried to turn the tide of the conversation, "I had an interesting conversation with Specialist Traynor", "oh?, what about?". Shona placed a arm around Liara, bringing them closer together, "she asked me why I was so attracted to you", "oh?" said Liara coyly and then continued "what did you say?, Shona reached over to kiss Liara, putting one hand through Liara's gown placing it on the top of Liara's panties, gently caressing Liara's soft bud, "I told her about this". Shona started to peel off the gown from Liara, caressing Liara's upper body with gentle kisses until she reached one of Liara's ample breasts, Liara reached behind her to take off her bra, giving Shona better access to them. Shona with one hand lifted one of Liara's breasts, softly touching it with her lips and tongue sending slight ripples of pleaure through Liara, Shona made her way down Liara's body careesing it with both hands until she got to Liara's panties. She gently lifted Liara slightly off the couch to take them off, after which she used her tongue to gently stroke the sides of Liara's labia, she continued until she was at Liara's centre using 2 fingers along with her tongue to send Liara into an erotic frenzy as Liara held her head in place, it all got too much for Liara and she intiated a meld with Shona.

They fell asleep in the queen sized bed both lovingly holding each other, but it was not to be a peaceful night's rest for Shona. The dream had come back, the one that remind her of a mission she lead years ago, it was never a dream that came often, but it was occurring more often since the Reaper invasion. The dream had Shona going through a ghost town alone, the sky is peaceful and the sun is shinning, but the feeling of peace is not in the town, there is a feeling of tension as Shona makes her way through the town, then faces from the ground look at her disappointed, angry, sad and accusing. They ask her why, she cannot answer, they keep on asking, she still cannot answer, they again keep on asking, she can take no more and as she is about to scream she is transported elsewhere. She is taken to inside some sort of building, it appears to be some sort of club, there is music playing, but it is being drowned out by the other noises, several types of voices laughing cruelly, depravingly, lustfully and one type of voices tearfully being for mercy, suffering greatly. Shona catches her in a mirror laughing cruelly, but with a look that seems to beg for mercy, she is holding a bloody knife. Shona wakes suddenly in a cold sweat startling Liara awake, Liara, who has experienced this before asks Shona "has the nightmare came back?", "yes" Shepard answers, "it's that dream about what happened to the Perun's Bolt colony in 2180", "siame, you should show me what happened back then", "no, Liara, I won't subject you to the horrors I seen there", "please, siame, this has been bothering you more and more", "no, Liara,....but I'll tell you, I'm just afraid you might hate me", "Shona, I could never hate you", "hmm, perhaps".


	22. Perun's Bolt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard confesses a dark part of her history to Liara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perun: Slavic god of thunder

Several hours later in Starboard observation lounge Shepard poured a couple of drinks for herself and Liara and ordered the room closed until one of them wanted to leave, then Shepard began, "I was a newly minted LC under the command of Captain Anderson, we recieved a distress call from one of our smaller colonies in the Traverse, Perun's Bolt". Shepard took a sip of her vodka and continued "we thought it would have been some environmental emergency considering that Batarian attacks on our colonies had ground to a halt after Torfan, I always considered what the Alliance did there to have been barbaric, was I in for a rude awakening". Liara softly answered "yes, I heard about what happened on Torfan, the horrors of that place", Shepard continued her story, "I lead a team that landed at the colony, at first it looked deserted, then we noticed weapons fire burns on some of the buildings amd some of them had been ransacked. We thought that colonists were hiding from the attack in some of the nearby bunkers, but it wasn't more than 20 metres until discovered the truth". "They were piles of bodies everwhere at the rear of the colony, some of them mutalated almost beyond recognition, all them murdered, all of them by Batarian weapons". "They were thousands of bodies, we of course took scans of the deceased and we noticed an odd occurance, all the males, anyone over 50 and the children had all been killed, but we noticed that all the teenage and adult females under 50 were missing, hundreds of people unaccounted".

Liara was shocked at this "goddess, all those people, but wasn't the planet rendered uninhabitable by the Batarians?". Shepard answered "yes, but not by the Batarians, but by us", the colour almost drained out of Liara "by Athame's light, why?": Shepard took another sip,"Liara, because besides not letting those pigs benefit from their actions by gaining an empty colony, we sure weren't going to let those bastards on the Council or their worthless cronies benefit from it", "goddess, siame, how could the Alliance do or think such a thing?", "Liara, the Council almost demands we colonise the traverse, but when we needed help, they never gave it, but they would claim a stricken colony while we hunted down the pigs that destroyed it". Shepard then went on "so Alliance policy was to salt the earth of any destroyed colony we couldn't later reclaim, thankfully, it hasn't been many and we've been careful not to make them totally lifeless, just incapable of supporting widescale sentient life for a few centuries". Liara was absolutely stunned "siame, what you're saying is monstrously wasteful, I can't beleve the Alliance would sanction such a policy", Shepard sighed "yeah, but after a while you get fed up of burying your dead or spending countless millions in rehabilitating traumatised survivors or people you managed to rescue from slavery and besides it's hardly an original policy brought about by the Alliance, all the other races have similar policies even the Asari". Liara having spent time on the polished turd that was Illium had to acknowledge the truth of Shepard's statement.

Shepard continued on "we searched for leads for several weeks on the missing colonists, shaking down criminal gangs, threatening Batarian mercs, but coming up with nothing, then suddenly we got intel on an underground human fetish club, you know these clubs , which are mostly not underground, where non humans can practice their sexual fetishes for my kind, anyway we had gotten intel on this underground one that was being run by a group of Batarians, that was our first red flag". Shepard paused for a moment, then went on "we gathered all the intelligence we could on the club that in an old asteroid mining station, when we got there what we found was nothing more than a sexualised churnel house where the only group missing were human males and the only group suffering were human females. Liara looked appalled as Shepard kept on "every kind of depraved evil was committed on these women, they had lost everything, their families, partners, children, property, many of them lost the ability to have more children and in some cases even their sanity and lives as some of them had died of their injuries or had committed suicide". Shepard poured herself another drink "some of the worst I can tell you about, and believe me they were far worse, was where a group of Krogan were gang raping a teen girl who'd been labelled Marlene the breeding slut, who had been tied down to the floor on her front, she was probably only about 17 and had been lucky if she even kissed a boy before, they had taken turns on her causing her to scream in agony, crying out for her mother, the sheer look of agony and humiliation on her face is something I'll never forget. Another set of horrors was a group of Asari matrons performing forced melds on some women, they bought off the Batarians, in an attempt to turn them into their personal harem slaves, totally dependant on those Asari, you know how the Asari melding process can alter our brainwaves to be more attune with Asari and how a forced meld can cause serious cognative damage". Liara replied with concern "yes, forced melds can damage any mind even Asari, there's a reason my people consider them to be the highest violation". Shepard took a large gulp of vodka "we managed to subdue the club fairly easily and got the imprisoned women out of there, then we turned our attention to the bastards and bitches that caused their suffering. The first thing we found out was that the Batarian raid was not some twisted revenge for Torfan, but plainly to make money. The next thing we found out was that a lot of them had connections that could keep them out of the system, so we decided to take matters into our own hands and settle the matter.

Shepard had become more morose as she carried on "we rounded up the perparators and started executing them and we were neither quick or gentle, we took our time and made sure they knew real pain for what they did, you have no idea how fast the merciless beg for mercy, which we never granted. By the time we're finished not one of them was alive, not one of them had not experienced intolerable agony and believe me, we enjoyed inflicting it, but it was not the end of the agony. The next few weeks and months saw even more loss as many of the women rescued either committed suicide or went insane through either what happened to their loved ones, their enslavement in that club or the fact that they could no longer have children. Some of them that were committed to mental health institutions will never be free again as they will have to spend the rest of their days in one institution or another, Marlene regressed to a state of infancy because of what happened and as far as I know she is still in the mental state of a 4 year old, a young girl who once had a bright future ahead of her." Shepard went on with her sad recollection "and those women the Asari were force melding and using illegal hormone implacements on, and other women also by the use of heavy drugs and illegal hormone implacements were turned into near hopeless sex addicts, people watch porn with some actress being portrayed as turning into a sex addict, all sensual and ready to perform any sexual act with anyone and enjoying it, believe me, the reality is very different, it's people in mental and physical torment desperate to do anything to make the torment go away, there is no joy for them, they become so addicted to sexual activity giving them realise that they are willing to do any depraved act, no matter how miserable it makes them feel". Shepard paces a bit and continues "you know, Liara, every time I put down a Marauder or a Phantom, part of me cares for who they once were, but when it comes to Cannibals a good part of me is glad to not only to put them down, but to know that they were once Batarians who suffered Reaperfication, to know that they're homeworld is in utter ruins, to know they are now endangered as a people and if what is the left of them survives the war, I am going to make sure they're kept under the kosh as I know through vast experience what happened in that club was not an isolated incident, that they if they got the chance would inflict untold horrors on the rest of the galaxy." Liara could hear no more "please, siame, let me help you, show me what happened", "no, Liara, I won't subject you to that", please Shona, don't let it poison you". After a while Shepard let Liara see the events of that chapter, which were far worse than what were described. Liara told Shona "there is nothing to hate, please you need to let me help heal you, siame", Shepard held on to Liara as she wept heavily with Liara helping to dry her tears and gave long needed comfort.

CODEX ENTRY

SLAVERY

Slavery is considered a high crime by most of the galaxies civilisations with punishments ranging from long term imprisonment to disembowlment for those convicted of being slavers, slave holders, slave traders or using slave labour. The only galactic civilisation to use it is the long failing Batarian Hegemony and various criminal groups in the Terminus Systems. The vast amount of slavery is not for manual labour, but for the illegal sex trade, followed by illegal experimentation, then domestic servitude, then illegal gladitorial combat, very little is for actual manual labour as there is little to no call for it, especially in a galaxy where machines have long since taken away the need for massive workforces

CODEX ENTRY

SALTING THE EARTH

An unofficial Alliance policy of rendering colonies that have been deemed unrecoverable due to raiding, usually Batarian, uninhabitable to sentient life for a viable future. This is done to prevent any long term benefit that the raiders, the Batarian Hegemony, which usually sponsors such raids or outside oppurtunists can gain. Although Perun's Bolt was a victim of Batarian raiding, the raid was not sponsored by the Hegemony as the Salting The Earth policy as well as heavy defeats at Elysium, Torfan and Maitland had rendered them too economically crippling by the time of the Perun's Bolt raid to sponsor


	23. Valkyries Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Citadel has come under attack by Cerberus, Shepard takes an all female squad

Shepard recieved a call from Councillor Valern on the Q.E.C, "Shepard, we believe that Councillor Udina has been funnelling funds for what purpose we cannot say", "why call me, why not call C-Sec?", "you're human and politically netural, come to the Citadel and we'll chat and we have remedied the situation on your appearance". Shepard ordered Joker to plot a course for the Citadel. As they approached the Citadel , Joker tried to get clearance to dock but received no reply, "commander, I've been trying to contact Citadel docks, but I've haven't received a reply..uh-huh, commander, I've just got a communica from Thane", "put him on". Thane came over the receiver "Siha, Cerberus troops are attacking the Citadel, they've taken over the docks", "are you OK?", "no, I had to hide in a Presidium store front". Shepard told Joker to take them to a new location on the Citadel and that they would depart by Shuttle.

Shepard took Ashley and Liara , on the way to landing zone the team noticed parts of the Citadel on fire with battles raging between C-Sec. When the shuttle landed at a C-Sec landing zone, the squad noticed to their chagrin that the C-Sec officers were being overwhelmed by the augmented mutants that were the Cerberus troops, Shepard ordered her team to take cover as she notice an Engineer had laid down a turret, she quickly used an Overload to take down its shields and then used a Homing Grenade to blast it, the Engineer and a few Troopers away clearing a path to the remaining Troopers and Centurions. Liara launched a singularity trapping several Troopers, that was detonated by a Warp from Shepard, Ashley used her Disruptor ammo along with Marksman to disrupt the shields of the Centurions, she was then aided by Shepard and Liara. When the last of the Cerberus troops was euthanised Shepard approached the wounded Bailey who told the team about the situation on the Citadel.

Bailey gingerly went over to his terminal and read out what was on the display "the likelyship of betrayal from within is breat, Shepard, Councillor Valern was supposed to be meeting the Executor at his office to discuss Udina, about arresting him". Shepard turned on her own com "Thane, did you get all that?", "yes, I will try to meet up, but running is difficult". Shepard and her team fought their way to the Executors office, Shepard's anger for the Illusive Man increased for every Cerberus soldier she killed, these were once people who had their free will stolen from them, people who were stolen from various colonies, sure the Illusive Man was likely indoctrinated, but his lust for power would have caused him to have done this atrocity to these people even if he weren't, she would do to the Cerberus soldiers what she would to the Reaper creatures, put them down quickly with as about as much mercy as possible to send them to their rest, but as for their leaders, their would be no such mercy, they would beg for their release before she was done. They finally reached the executors office to find Kai Leng, one of the Illusive Man's willing lackeys threatening the Salarian councillor, the councillor spoke to Shepard "Shepard, they're going to kill us all", "that remains to be seen", "I mean Udina, he setting up the others to hand over to Cerberus". Shepard turned her attention to Leng "3 against 1 , pal, it's over", Leng sneered "no, now it's fun", he was just about to blast the councillor with his Palm Blaster when he was distracted by a uncloaking Thane pointing a Phlanax at his head

The Cerberus agent reacted quickly and managed to get away and cloak, Thane fired a few shots, the assassin decloaked and swung at Thane with his sword, Thane evaded and quickly took down Leng. Shepard got the Salarian councillor to safety as Thane went to finish Leng off, but the assassin managed to get up and stab Thane. Shepard screamed "Thane", Thane instructed her to go after Leng, Shepard contacted Bailey "Cerberus is after the Council, I am going after the assassin", "take a skycar, I'll meet you there. The team had almost made it to their destination when Leng landed on their skycar from above, Shepard tried shooting Leng, but he had put up a shield and managed to disable the car with his sword before hopping on to another piloted by a Phantom. The team's car crash landed on a walkway, the team managed to stagger out as more Cerberus forces attacked with some Phantoms and Nemesis in the fray. The Phantoms were the worst, they could cloak, use biotics to shield themselves and were deadly with their swords, Shepard not being the best at melee combat had to keep her distance. She used Overload to take down their Barriers and activate her Annihilation Field to affect the Phantoms and Assault Troopers caught in it, which were detonated by Throws from Liara, Ashley took down the remaining Troopers, all that were left were 2 Nemesis, deadly with their sniper rifles, but useless in close combat. The team used cover to advance until they were close enough to put a bullet in each of their heads ending their sad twilight existence. The team dealt with an Engineer and had to a series of combo powers to take down an Atlas, a trio of troopers were then quickly disposed before the team head off for the lift

The team noticed Leng and a group of Phantoms get into a lift as it closed, Shepard's team got in the second lift to pursue Leng. Bailey informed her that he was stopping Lengs's lift at every level, Shepard managed to catch up and disable, but a firefight with a Phantom on another lift Bailey informed her that Leng jumped into anothet lift that he was unable to disable, but Shepard was by shooting out the power condiuts. The team's lift caught up with the council lift, Shepard ordered her team to jump on the top it. Shepard had to roll of out the way of some bullets coming from the lift when it suddenly stopped, the lift's passengers got out, the team climbed down into the lift and followed the passengers out to the shuttle landing area.

Kaiden led the 3 councillors to the landing area only to find the shuttle burning, "everyone back to the lift", just then Shepard appeared with her team as they sealed the lift behind them, Kaiden shouted out to her "Shepard, what's going on?, "out of the way, Kaiden, your not the one I want, it's the man behind you", "what do you mean", "it's Udina, he's behind the coup, the Salarian councilor confirmed it. Udina went up to Kaiden to try and cover himself, "major, can you really trust a word this thing says, look at it, it's a mockery of a person", that last comment enraged Liara, but she kept her head when she addressed Udina "and you're a mockery of a councilor, no wonder Shepard choose Anderson over you". Udina gave a dark chuckle, "ah, Doctor T'Soni, tell me is your so called lover with Cerberus, a Reaper creation or some puppet you created?, I mean after all we know it's not human", Kaidan interrupted Udina "councilor, with all due respect, your not helping", Udina backed down. Kaiden addressed Shepard "help me out here", "Kaiden, you know me, you know I wouldn't do this if I weren't certain", "I knew the old Shepard, I am not sure what you are", "Kaiden, you were there when Chakwas gave me the all clear, do you think Ash and Liara would be with me if I wasn't me?". Kaiden pondered as Udina tried to override the lift, Shepard shouted out "if he opens that the councilors could be killed", Kaiden turned to Udina pointing his gun "back away from the console", Udina retorted "to hell with this, I'm overriding the lock". Tevos came up to him to persuade him to stop but she pushed down by Udina, who pointed a gun at her, "gun" Kaiden called out, Shepard reacted quickly and shot Udina. The door to the lift started to unseal, Shepard ordered the councilors to get behind the team, luckly it was Bailey who appeared who told them that the Cerberus forces had retreated, Bailey then got the 2 councilors to safety while Shepard followed Bailey


	24. Our World in Flames Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After saying a final goodbye to Thane and debriefing Hackett and Anderson on the Cerberus coup, the Normandy is sent to Irune to help bolster Krogan and Turian forces and find an artifact essential in gaining Volus support

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this version of events neither Kaiden or Ashley were made Spectre

The Cerberus coup had ended not with what they wanted, but with Asari and Salarian military support added to the Allied cause, Dominic Osoba being sworn in as councilor and Major Alenko rejoining the Normandy, however the coup did leave a great deal of tragedy on the Citadel with C-Sec and civilian casualties as well as those poor souls who were converted into Cerberus troops. If not for the ghastly transformation process they had to endure these troops would be leading normal lives with their families or at least what could be considered normal during this war. Some of the troop corpses were taken to secure labs away from the Citadel to hopefully study a way of reversing the transformation process or at least giving the victims some control of their lives.

Shepard was showing Kaiden around the Normandy, telling him about the ship and what improvements they were in comparison to the old ship and informing him of 2 areas that were restricted, "you are free to be anywhere on the ship except for my cabin and Liara's office, they are restricted to myself and Liara only", Kaiden understood the cabin being restricted, but not why Liara's office was and he had to ask, "Shepard, I understand your personal cabin being restricted, but why Liara's office?" Shepard couldn't tell him exactly why, so she gave him the standard answer for these situations "that's classified, Major". Kaiden was a little taken back, "but surely as ship's XO wouldn't I be cleared for such access?", Shepard had a questioning look on her, "XO?, this ship already has an XO", "Shepard?", "the ship's XO is Dr. T'Soni". Kaiden was shocked "but this is an Alliance ship and with all due respect, Dr. T'Soni is an alien national", Shepard formally informed him "wrong, this is not an Alliance ship", "I don't understand", "it's not an Alliance ship as it was not built by the Alliance, it was built by Cerberus and given to me for the Collector mission and I commendered it after that mission was over", "I know that, but when you came back to the Alliance, the ship would have became Alliance property", "no, the ship is still my property, I just accepted my old commission to make facilitating with the Alliance easier, I was also reinstated as a Spectre, this ship is not part of any Alliance fleet or flotilla, it's an independant contractor as a Spectre vessel and if it belongs to any fleet, it would be to the Citadel Council"

Kaiden couldn't believe what he was hearing as Shepard continued "I have also been given special diplomatic powers by the admirality to broker treaties with other races to secure alliances to form a coalition for this war, so far we got, Krogan, Turian, Elcor, Hanar, Drell, Salarian and Asari and now we're headed to Irune to hopefully gain Volus support". Kaiden remained silent, he would be taking this up with the admirals later, Shepard finished "I want you and Garrus ready for deployment an hour before we get there", "yes, ma'am", with that Shepard departed for the CIC. The Normandy soon reached the orbit of the Volus home world of Irune, which had an atmosphere pressure of 60.56 Earth atmospheres, essential for an ammonia based ecology on a world where the surface temperature of 9 celsius would by far too hot for such life if Irune had an an Earth like atmosphere. In a thiner atmosphere like those on other races garden worlds the boiling point of ammonia is about -33 celsius and the thicker the atmosphere the higher the temperature needed to boil ammonia, which is why Irune was balanced to sustain such life, other habitable Volus worlds with standard atmospheric pressures had to have surface temperatures well below -50 celsius

These facts and the fact that Irunes atmosphere is poisonous to most other forms of life is why the team need again to put on special environmental suits either to survive the atmospheric pressure of Irune or the cryogenic tempertures of Volus worlds with thiner atmospheres as well as the other environmental factors. While putting on their suits Kaiden turned to Garrus "Shepard informed me that Liara is the Normandy's XO", Garrus replied, "yes", Kaiden was a little troubled at Garrus's short neutral answer, "but she can't be qualified, she's never spent time as an active member of a crew, except for that time on the original Normandy and that was only a few months", Garrus sighed "you know about their connection?", "yeah, I know they're in a serious relationship, but how does that qualify Liara?". Garrus paused for a moment then answered "that's not what I meant", "then what do you mean?", "I don't understand it fully or really that much to be honest, but there's some type of neural link between Shepard and Liara", Kaiden looked skeptical "neural link?", "yes, it allows them to communicate with each other mentally". Kaiden was flabberghasted "how is that possible?", "like I said I don't understand much about it, but it appears to be formed after many deep melds, it's rare between Asari and almost astronomically rare between Asari and non Asari", "how long has it been going on for?, "the first time was on the original Normandy and again just after we boarded this one"

Kaiden thought about the events of Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, he wasn't with Shepard's team, but he knew that Liara and Ashley were and that Ashley advocated sacrificing the Council, but Shepard ordered the fleet to save the Destiny Ascension and the Council at Liara's advice at the cost of a dozen ships and their crews. What he now asked himself was it mere advice or something else, something more sinister? He demanded of Garrus "so you mean to tell me that an alien national has undue influence over the commanding officer of an Alliance vessel?", Garrus became irritated at Kaiden's tone "first of all this isn't an Alliance vessel, you might have noticed that Shepard doesn't wear an Alliance uniform or any type of uniform on board", "yeah, I noticed, and I wondered who influenced her to wear that gear". Garrus was starting to become pissed off, but he also knew this wasn't like Kaiden "Kaiden, be careful of where you going with this, you might not like where it takes you", Kaiden aggressively replied "don't like where it's taking me?, I come on board to find Shepard dressed like a cross between the Bride of Frankenstein and an Asari BDSM hooker and that an Asari has mental influence over her while she commands an advanced warship, oh I think it's already started to take me to where I don't like and believe me I will be doing something about it". Garrus still keeping his calm asked "like what?", Kaiden had a determined look on him as he spoke "like speaking to Hackett or Anderson to get Dr. T'Soni removed and possibly have me replace Shepard as commanding officer while she recovers from what influence Liara has over her". Garrus burst out laughing "oh, you are fucking delusional, supposing you did get the admirals on side it wouldn't do much good as this is not an Alliance vessel, something you don't seem able to comprehend, and therefore don't have any real influence on who she has on board and trying to break the neural link between Shepard and Liara could cause serious permanent damage to them and if you somehow cause that I'll make sure you get back to Vancouver, space mail". Kaiden was about to come to blows with Garrus when Shepard appeared "alright you 2, be on the shuttle in 5". After Shepard went to the docking bay Garrus turned to Kaiden "I'll be watching you Alenko, if you do anything to undermine her, I'll make sure you'll regret it, Kaiden sarcastically replied "yeah, noted"


	25. Our World in Flames Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team lands on Irune to find the artifact while Kaiden keeps a watchful eye on Shepard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who gave Kudos
> 
> Although Volus in this chapter will be dipicted as being outside their environmental suits as it is on their homeworld, I will not be describing what they look like

Shepard had been on many races homeworlds, but nothing like this, the other homeworlds had something familiar to them even Dekunna, but there was very little familar here as for one thing there was no water on Irune as water was incompatible with an ammonia based ecology, the sky was a tannish brown colour and they were great oceans of liquid ammonia, but there was one thing that was familar, Reaper creatures tearing apart the cities of Irune like they have to so many other worlds. Shepard met up with the turian commander, General Vantraxis, "general, what' the situation?", "the Reapers are converging on the cities power supply, they seem to be Husks and Cannibals", "if that's all, then should be a short mission", "if only that were the case , but for some reason they seem to be highly focused on tearing down a cerain part of the coolant towers, the regulators, if they go offline , the towers won't work and the station goes into emergency lock down". Shepard was rather skeptical "focused?, these things are the dumbest things the Reapers create, there is no way they can focus on anything". Suddenly, a hail for the general came over the com, "general, the Reapers are making another attempt". Shepard ordered her team to accompany her to the tower, where they noticed the Husks try to tear apart panels trying to get to the regulators, nothing unusual there except for the fact that they did not turn to attack the team but stayed focused on their task protected by a well defined defensive line of Cannibals. Shepard noticed the unusual behaviour, but also noticed the Reaper force was small and the squad was going to deal with them when they heard a piercing screech, Kaiden called out "BANSHEE". But only it wasn't, the incoming creature didn't biotically hop like a Banshee, but it seemed to biotically glide like it was ice skating, such grace for a Reaper monster, Shepard's reveree was interupted by a Turian soldier crying out "PROVOCATEUR"

The one annoying thing about Reaper creatures was that they could function in any environment unaided and this latest delight was no exception, it was clearly derived from a human female as it still had the appearance of the original face, albeit highly twisted with ash grey skin, sullen cheeks and jaw, a shock of what could pass for unnatural silvery white hair on it's head, although it was more like very thin wires than natural hair. The creature also had 2 hose like tubes running from the small of the back to each of the shoulders and 2 smaller thiner hose like tubes, one each running from each shoulder blade all the way round to each breast, the fingers were longated with the nails being turned into deadly pointed blades, but unlike those found on Banshees they kept their original thickness and the bladed nails were far shorter. The legs had a series of very light blue cybernetic lights running down each side, but most horrifying of all was again was the creatures face. It like Shepard had electronic red eyes, but unlike Shepard's the whole of each eye was red not just the iris and pupil, it also, like Shepard, had red cybernetic scarring on it's face, but unlike Shepard's chaotic webbing it was symmetrical and well designed, the creature had a horrible killer's smile to it that went well with the expression on the rest of it's face. The creature gave out another piercing screech with a pose of primal frustration before going on the offense

Shepard contacted Liara through the link [saff, just seen a Provocateur, I am going to use my armour-cam to record it, get ready to analyse when I get back], [yes, siame and good luck], at the start at the link Shepard's eyes went vaguely black for moment too short to notice if you weren't paying direct attention, which Kaiden was and he thought internally {"are you really you or are you just an Asari's puppet or are you just waiting to develop into another one of that thing? Should I just have let Liara finish you off in that monastery and perhaps put you out of your misery?}, his thought was interrupted by Shepard shouting out "one Reaper bitch about to be tossed to the kerb" as she cast a Throw at the creature. The creature deftly avoided it, but not by rolling out of the way like she saw Marauders do many times, but by gracefully gliding out of the way and then sending a pulse to it's fellow Reaper creatures, one of the Turian soldiers called out "the Reapers have developed shields". The creature also cast out a few strands of biotic energy that targeted some of the Turian and Krogan troops and when it hit them it curled it way around their bodies like pythons, constricting their bodies, crushing their breath until they passed out leaving them to the mercy of what was around them

Garrus and Kaiden aimed their guns at the creature as did a Turian trooper and opened fire, to no avail as the creature layed down a series of kinetic barriers which soaked up the bullets as the creature slid over to the offending trooper and slashed his environmental suit with a swipe of it's nails causing Irune's poisonous environment to seep into his suit causing a panic as Kaiden and Garrus went to his aid to seal the breach. As they were fixing the breach, the Provocateur raised a finger pointing to the trio and gave a low howl and one of the Cannibals fighting the Krogan and Turians turned away from the battle to throw a grenade at the trio, Shepard screamed "GRENADE". Kaiden and Garrus were able to carry the stricken trooper away before it detonated, unfortunately they were caught in the aftershock which caused the trooper's suit to be breached further beyond repair causing him to die in agony as Garrus and Kaiden laid disorientated. The creature noticing it's chance fired an electrical blast at Shepard, who had to throw herself on the ground hard,knocking the wind out of her. As she was trying to get up the Provocateur quickly came to her position and was about to swipe at her when she detonated her Tech Armour causing it to stagger back, as it did she used her Overload to bring down it's barriers and opened fire on it managing to break threw some of its armour before it was able to recharge it's barrier. The creature threw a Warp at Shepard which missed, but hit the troops still affected by the biotic constrictors causing a biotic explosion killing them instantly

Shepard was beyond furious and screamed at the top of her voice "THIS FUCKING THING DIES NOW, YOU 2 WITH ME, NOW". Kaiden and Garrus came over to Shepard as she laid down her plan, "I am going to launch an Annihilation Field, Garrus, you fire an Overload, Kaiden, when that happens launch a Reave and I'll cast a Throw, hopefully with it already being affected by the Reave and Field hopefully the resulting explosion will be enough to help finish it off". The team got ready for the creatures next attack, when it did Shepard waited until it got in ranged and screamed "NOW", the team followed the plan and the resulting explosion not only dropped it's barrier, but also destroyed most of it's remaining armour. The team wasted no time and opened fire before it could recharge it's barrier causing it to die after a hail of bullets, "thank fuck for that" Shepard cried out, after losing the Provocateurs influence the remaining Reaper creatures descended back to their usual chaos and were quickly defeated. Shepard went to the platoon leader and asked him if they would be able to manage, he told her that they would as the remaining Reaper forces were just Husks and Cannibals. The trio then went to search for the artifact through the city, which was littered with the bodies of dead Volus in their natural attire instead of their cumbersome environmental suits they have to wear away from Volus worlds. The search was mercifully short as the artifact being a Volus national treasure had a locator atttached to it, after securing it they took the shuttle back to the Normandy

CODEX ENTRY

PROVOCATEURS

Provocateurs are what could be equated to being the high officer class of the Reaper armies, they number only in the low hundreds, miniscule in the overall Reaper armies. They are created from captured human female Sentinels and are put through a very long Reaperisation process that increases their biotic and tech abilities. They are also able to use biotics to glide across the battlefield and use their metallic nails to slash armour. Their name comes from beyond the fact they can provoke better reactions from Reaper troops, they can also provoke higher emotional reactions from humans and other races, because while all other types of Reaper creatures become anonymous after Reaperfication, Provocateurs keep their original faces, albeit Reaperised. It is one thing to know that a Reaper creature came from a certain race, it is quite another when it is possible to tell the exact individual. Because they can provide shielding and health regeneration to Reaper troops, priority orders are to destroy them first should they appear on the battlefield, this, of course is easier said than done


	26. The Blood We Shed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy heads back to the Citadel to hand over the Volus artifact and issues start to come to a head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't hate Kaiden Alenko, it's just he's went a little off kilter

The team after reaching the Normandy went to med-bay for their obligatory check up, as they were about to go in Liara came running out of her office to hug Shepard "I heard what happened, I was so worried, siame". Kaiden muttered under his breath "yeah, worried that your doll might have been broken", Garrus heard it and gave a subharmonic growl to Kaiden. Shepard told Liara that she would be in her office after the check up and again Kaiden couldn't help himself by muttering "the puppet obeys it's mistress", Garrus was becoming pissed off, but held back as they went for the check up. The check up was soon over and Shepard headed to Liara's office, Kaiden and Garrus soon left med-bay also and as Kaiden was about to take the lift to the CIC Garrus pinned him to the wall, "I don't know what your problem is, Alenko, but if you don't back off I'll...", "you'll what, report me to that thing that was Shepard?, we fought off a Provocateur down there and we've a Provocateur up here as a commanding officer, only this one has an Asari as a mistress instead of a Reaper as a master", Garrus felt sorry for the deluded major "Alenko, just go get some rest, you're not thinking straight after such a stressful mission and after time off with Udina", after that Garrus left Kaiden where he was and headed back to the battery

Shepard handed the the armour-cam footage to Liara after giving her a brief kiss, "Liara take a look at this footage and tell me what you make of this new Reaper thing", "on it, siame". Liara put the footage into her display and played it, her face went pale when she saw the Provocateur. Shepard noticed the distressed look on Liara's face as she paused the footage, "what's wrong, Liara, "that Provocateur, I know who she was, Anya Gruutersonn, she was working on an Alliance project 6 months ago that I was helping with. Shepard used her omni-tool to bring up Alliance personel records

Gruutersonn, Anya

D.O.B: 28/10/2161

SENTINEL CLASS

Engineering Proficiency: Very Good

Biotic Proficiency: Rudimentary

"Liara, are you sure on who she was?, "positive, siame", "you need to see this", Shepard showed the profile to Liara, "she was someone who was only labelled a Sentinel because she showed baseline offensive biotic potential, she would have been trained more as and should have been categorised more as an Engineer", "OK, so she wasn't the most powerful biotic, what's the problem?. Shepard became very still and got worryingly serious "Liara, you need to watch the rest of that footage", Liara pressed play on the footage and after a moments viewing she cried out "BY THE GODDESS" as she watched the Provocateur use biotics to glide across the battlefield. Someone with only rudimentary biotic potential should be limited to Throw, Pull and Lift and not be too powerful with them, using biotics to quickly skate across the ground should be well beyond them. Liara looked frozen as she spoke "this can't be, it's not possible, Shona, you haven't edited the footage to play a joke on me?", "if only", "please, Shona", "what's on there is what happened and it only gets worse", "WORSE!!!??", she looked at the devastated look on Shepard's face and continued to watch the footage. The footage went onto show the Provocateur cast out biotic constrictors that rendered several Turian and Krogan troops caught by them unconscious and use a Warp to detonate the effect causing a massive biotic explosion. Liara was almost apoletic with fear and almost screamed at Shepard "please, siame, tell me this is all some joke", the look on Shepard's face told her otherwise, "please Shona, meld with me, I need to see a more first hand account", "are you sure you want it that way", "yes, siame, I have to", Shepard acquiesced and let the meld take place. The meld showed Shepard's fear and desperation when fighting the creature, proof now beyond any that what she saw of the Provocateur was all too real, "I heard from an attendee at that club that the Reapers were doing something to progress biotic humans they captured, but I have never conceived anything on this scale", Shepard disheartenly responded "yeah, and that is with some human of basic potential, what if they got another human of higher potential? or......OH, NO!", "siame, what is it?, "what if they're doing the same thing with Asari", "siame, they are doing the same thing with Asari, remember the Banshees in the monastery?", "yes, but I still don't think you fully comprehend, the Banshees created in that place were all mass produced and when you mass produce something you don't have time to really do work on it, to really upgrade it". Liara suddenly went very quiet when she realised the implications, "and the Provocateurs are very few in number, their production would be done in great detail and by what they learned if they could upgrade a baseline human biotic to such a level, they could potentially upgrade, if taken more detail to do so and not mass produce, an Asari to an absolutely frightening level, we have to show this to Councilor Tevos"

Kaiden was at the CIC talking to Ashley trying to get more information about the commander, he knew he had over reacted with Garrus, so he now he knew he had to play it cool and not pop his top when he heard something suspicious, "Ash, what's been happening while I was with Udina?" "Oh,not a lot, just Shep being Shep, you know kicking Reaper and Cerberus all over the place, curing the Genophage", "I heard about that", "well, she didn't actually cure, more like run in between the legs of a Reaper Destroyer to set off 2 hammers to summon Kalross, the biggest Thresher Maw ever". Kaiden almost collapsed with shock "SHE DID WHAT?", "ran between...", Kaiden cut her off "who was with her on the mission?", "Garrus and Liara". And there it was again, the blue puppet mistress, the one controlling the shots, he had know doubt that Shepard would have ran between the legs of a Destroyer to distract it so a cure could be released, but summoning a Thresher Maw was out of the question. He knew how the incident on Akuze had effected her and that when she was investigating Admiral Kahoku's missing men on Edolus she almost went into shock. "Ash, you said she summoned a giant Thresher Maw", "yeah, Kalros, it destroyed the Destroyer, dragged it underground", "but Shepard's terrified of the normal ones, how did she manage to get through summoning one so large?", "it was Liara, she did something with that link thing they have with each other, kept her calm", "I heard about that", "personally, I think it's a lot of crap, but they do spend a lot of time with each other, especially on board". Kaiden was taking notes of everything Ashley was saying, "Ash, why did Shepard make Liara her XO and not you?, I mean I know they're close, but Shepard's a professional, she wouldn't place a position on ship based on a relationship she was having", "she didn't, it has something to do with what goes on in Liara's office", "what goes on in there?", "don't know, all I know is that it has high level classification, only Shepard and Liara are allowed to be in there". Kaiden thought on what Ashley had just told him and was about to press on it when Joker came over the com telling them they were only 5 minutes out from the citadel


	27. We Wanna Scream Our Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Shepard is giving the Book of Plenix artifact to the Volus Ambassaor and gaining Volus aid, Kaiden investigates on the Normandy while Shepard and Liara are with the Asari councilor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know I'll be over simplifying things when it comes to Kaiden's break in of Liara's office

The addition of Volus aid after Shepard handed over the Book of Plenix artifact to the Volus ambassador had been a welcome addition to the coalition and Shepard and Liara received an invite from Councilor Tevos, the councilor wanted an update on the war from Shepard and she was an old friend of Liara's mother, Matriarch Benezia, so she invited them both. Shepard and Liara soon arrived at the councilor's office and were greeted by the councilor's aid Neeota "welcome, Spectre Shepard, Maiden T'Soni, the councilor is expecting you" they went into the office which was spartan, but elegant, Liara thanked Tevos for the invitation "councilor, you honour us with your kind invitation", Tevos replied "you are most welcome, Maiden T'Soni". Tevos instructed her assistant, Neeota to bring in some tea and spoke to Shepard, "Spectre, I understand that you are building quite the coalition for the war", Shepard replied "yes, we have just secured the aid of the Volus", "the Volus?, but they aren't the most military adapt of races", "the aid was more financial, but they have commited their bombing fleet and the Elcor have pledged their support", "yes, I have heard about what happened on Dekuuna from Ambassador Calyn", Shepard looked downhearted "yes, the Reapers converted some of their people and used them to destroy the transports, we only managed to get half of them away". Liara quickly tried to change the subject "councilor, what has been the response of the Matriarchs to the war?", Tevos responded with slight disappointment "they're holding back, with the Reapers only attacking our less significant colonies, they believe it's not the time to make a full time commitment", Liara was aghast "and when will that be?, when the Reapers have landed on Thessia and started destroying our world and turning our people into monsters?", Shepard tried to calm Liara "Liara, calm down, don't get yourself worked up", Liara was a little more than slightly peeved "don't get myself worked up?, I've seen what the Reapers are doing to the galaxies people and these senile old crones are holding back thinking it's not that big of a concern

"Maiden T'Soni, please restrain yourself" Tevos called out to Liara, who replied "restrain myself?, half the galaxy is in flames, billions are being slaughtered or being turned into monstrousities, if these old fools can't comprehend show them these", Liara placed a file and an OSD on Tevos desk. Tevos first picked up the file which gave details and a picture of Anya Gruutersson, she asked Liara "why have you given me a file on a human woman?", "take a note of what it says about her biotic proficiency", "rudimentary, I still don't understand", "play the OSD and you will". Tevos put the OSD in her display and pressed play, she saw the Reaperised version of the woman in the file, Liara injerected "we call these creatures Provocateurs", "yes, I have heard of them, but I have never seen one", she continued to watch the footage and almost exploded out of her chair when she saw the creatures biotic ability "BY ATHAME'S LIGHT, this cannot be possible", Shepard downtroddenly replied "I'm afraid it is", Tevos responded with incredulity "Spectre Shepard, I know human biotics can be quite powerful, but with all due respect a human at rudimentary proficiency is at a lower level than an Asari with the same proficiency, either your intel is wrong or........".Tevos halted herself and began to pale "they're giving massive biotic upgrades to their creations", Liara then stated "and that's the point, when we went to that monastery the Matriarchy sent the commandos to, we found what the Reapers did to the Asari living there, they gave these unfortunates the basic Reaper mutation without biotic upgrades of any kind and they managed to wipe out every Asari Commando sent there, what if they start upgrading Asari captives the same way they've being doing with human biotic captives?", Tevos was stunned "every single one was wiped out?", "we found the bodies of 40 commandoes in the monstery", "40?, they were several teams sent there, each one sent after the last failed to respond, each team having a squad of at least 50". Liara sighed "then they too must have also have been converted, now imagine what they been like if they had the same type of biotic upgrades as the Provocateurs", Tevos gulped, " they could...Spectre Shepard, Maiden T'Soni, if you will excuse me, I will have to contact the Matriarchy"

The Normandy was mostly empty except for Joker, Traynor, EDI, a few crew members and Kaiden, who took his chance to investigate what he thought was the real reason for Liara's office being restricted. The ship's A.I often went into self diagnosis mode when at port as the Citadel ports with their biometric security would prohibitate anyone with the wrong bio signature from entering the ship. This left on board security a little laxed, a chance for Kaiden to quickly get into Liara's office. He tried many decryption programs on his omni-tool to unlock the door to Liara's office without success before using a brute force decryption program, which somehow opened the door, What he saw in the room was a large number of monitors and a number of terminals that had gigaquads of information and in the end of the room in an alcove was a queen sized bed. Kaiden darkly thought {"queen sized bed for the Normandy's queen and her concubine"}, he knew he wouldn't have time to go through the terminals, so he looked for any datapads, files and OSD's he could find. He looked around for what most have seemed for an eternity when he found 3 files, Lazurus, Shadow Broker and Arathot, which he took to read in the life support bay.

Kaiden read the first file about the Lazurus Project, he had a rudimentary idea about it from what he gathered on the Matterhorn, but this was on a whole new scale. He was astonished at what he read, that Shepard had been on operating tables for 2 years after being picked up from Alchera with pictures showing images of Shepard's body at the time, the massive amount of cybernetics in her body and her new potentially Asari type life span. He then read over the Shadow Broker file which stated that Liara T'Soni was placed as the Shadow Broker, this is what he needed, a way to criminalise Liara to get her off the ship, he didn't bother to read the rest of the file. The last file he read was the most shocking, he read about how in the time between the Collector base and meeting them on Lesuss, Shepard had destroyed an entire star system by somehow driving an asteroid into the Bahak mass relay destroying it causing the star to go supernova killing over 300000 people on Arathot, he knew about the destruction of the Bahak system and how the Batarians tried to blame the Alliance, but he never dreamed that his close friend could do such a thing. He pondered had he been so wrong? Had whatever control Liara had over Shepard been necessary, could his paranoia and jealousy prevented him from seeing the truth? That he was willing to accuse a good friend of being a self serving controling influence when in fact she was the leash needed to control a monster that was kept alive because it was needed? He went to read again the other 2 files that he took

He read more into the Shadow Broker file and read the Liara did not install herself as Shadow Broker, but it was Shepard who installed her in that role before boarding the Normandy, he knew now he couldn't blame Liara for any of these events as they all happened before the link was restablished. His heart sank as he wondered what did Cerberus bring back from the void, was it some soulless monster held together by cybernetics, was there any thing left of the Shepard he knew over 3 years ago in that shell? Oh, sure, Chakwas had confirmed that it was alive and that it had brain functionality, but that didn't mean it was alive in the true sense of having a soul, of having compassion. He began to realise his paranoia over something he didn't fully understand might have caused him to perhaps make the biggest mistake of his life. He then called for Garrius and Ashley, the 2 people on ship besides himself and Liara that knew Shepard from way back to join him into the life support bay. They soon arrived to find a remorseful Kaiden who said to both of them "I've made a mistake, Garrus", Ashley answered "what mistake, Kaiden", "the mistake of being paranoid, when Garrus told me of the link between Shepard and Liara, I became concerned, I started to doubt a friend, I started to seek out dirt on her, and boy did I find the dirt, only it wasn't on her, it was on the one I thought she was influencing, I started to mistrust Liara, you warned me, Garrus, I'm sorry". Garrus stood straight "what have you done Alenko?", "I broke into Liara's office", Garrus was annoyed "you did what?", Ashley chimed in "Kaiden, how could you, has spending time with that arse, Udina, have really changed you that much?", "Ash, I've been starting to ask that myself, but that's not why I've called you down here, I am afraid there's more". "More?", Garrus asked in an annoyed tone, Kaiden paused then answered "I took 3 data pads from Liara's office", The other 2 nearly exploded with Garrus almost grabbing Kaidan, before being held back by Ashley. Garrus with quite anger said "you just couldn't leave it alone could you?", "I know, but what I found on these pads made me realise the mistake I made, tell me what do you know of Arathot?"

Ashley still keeping the peace answered "the Batarian colony planet that got blown up, the Batarians tried to blame us for it", Kaiden looked desponded as he told her "well, they could have been some limited justification in that", "what do you mean?, "Shepard blew up the Bahak relay causing the star to go supernova". Garrus was barely holding it together, replied with unkind humour "oh, you truly are delusional, Alenko, what's wrong, couldn't your ego handle the fact that you were just another grunt here? these relays are impossible to destroy". Kaiden handed the Arathot pad to Ashley, who read it, "I'm afraid he's right Garrus, she did blow up that relay", she handed over the pad to Garrus who couldn't believe what he was reading. "I am afraid there's more" Kaiden said, "more?" Garrus replied incedulously, "Shepard installed Liara as the new Shadow Broker, that's why her office was restricted", he then handed the Shadow Broker pad to Garrus. By now the room became silent as a tomb as the pad was read, Kaiden broke the silence by asking the other 2 "you know about Shepard's implants?, Garrus answered "yeah, the fact that she now has a few of them", "er, Garrus, it's more than a few", Kaiden showed the pad detailing Shepard's new anatomy and much extended life span, Ashley almost swooned "she'll still be here when our grandkids have grandkids", Garrus added "yeah with a 45% cybernetic body, far more than what's legal in Council Space, we need to have a chat with our bonded pair when they get back", the other 2 agreed


	28. And Break Away From The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and Liara return to friends who are starting to doubt Shepard

Shepard and Liara had finished their appointment with Tevos and had came back aboard the Normandy, Shepard headed to the CIC and Liara went to her office. When she got there 3 people were waiting inside for her, she just about jumped "how did... what are you doing in here?" Ashley answered "get Shepard, we need to talk", Liara quickly got on the com "siame, can you come to the office, we might have a problem".Shepard quickly arrived at the office to see besides Liara, there was Kaiden and Ashley as well as Garrus,"what...what are 3 doing here" she stammered in shock, Kaiden replied "I brought them here, because while you were away I kinda broke in here", Shepard to say the least was furious "YOU DID WHAT?", er, I broke in, I thought Liara was having top much influence and I was looking for some way to curb it", "so let me get this right, you thought my future bondmate was having too much influence, so you thought to yourself, oh, bugger going to Shepard, lets just disobey a direct order and violate someone she loves dignity", "ma'am, "don't ma'am me, tell me did you also go through my panty draw in my cabin as well?, "Shepard, please let me explain", "let you explain?, oh believe me you're going to". Kaiden started to explain "when Garrus and Ashley told me about this link you and Liara have, well lets just say I jumped to a terrible conclusion and I broke in here looking for evidence against Liara", Shepard worked to keep calm "well that explains you, what about them 2?", "while I was here I took some data pads and showed them to Ashley and Garrus". Garrus cut in "it's what was on these data pads we need to talk about"

"No, we don't" protested Shepard, Garrus persisted "tell us about Arathot", a cruel laugh came from Shepard, "oh, you want to know about Arathot?, then I will tell you". Liara already knew the story and the way that Shepard would tell it and the reason why, but she feared the others reaction to it, Shepard began "Cerberus got intel of an Alliance scientist who had proof of a Reaper invasion that would came through about 8 months ago, but she was being held by the galaxies filth on terrorism charges, which was a punchline to a joke all by itself considering the filth that was holding her". Liara knew that Shepard almost couldn't help herself when it came to Batarians and the mood was not right to rein her in, Shepard then continued "I landed on their shithole colony and made my way to where they were holding Dr. Bryson, to cut a long story short we escaped that shithole after putting more than a few blinks out of the galaxies misery". The others were beginning to look concerned, Shepard went on "Dr. Kenson took us to a research station on an asteroid, they did indeed find proof of the forth coming invasion in the form of something called Object Rho, a Reaper artifact", the others gasped, " the fucking thing sent an image into my skull then Kenson held a gun to me saying that she couldn't allow me to restart the project, which was to smash the asteroid into the Bahak relay, which was the Alpha Relay, the one that directly connects to all others, the fucking squints knew about it for a long time". Ashley ,shocked, interjected " you mean to tell us that Kenson had a Reaper artifact?", "yeah, out in the open without any shielding, everyone in that facility became indoctrinated" Shepard answered, she went on "I managed to disarm Kenson, but she managed to call in her guards, I had to fight waves of them all the while Harbinger was speaking through that thing, unfortunately for me enough that thing powered up enough to send a pulse that knocked me out for 2 days". The others listened intently as she countined "I woke up with only a few hours to spare, I had to fight my way through even more indoctrinated personel until I reached Kenson, who was now a ranting madwoman, she blew herself up and the blast nearly knocked me out. I went to the main terminal and launched the thrusters, as I then communicated with the Normandy I thought about warning the Batarians, then I thought why bother, just a bunch of squints". She went on with her story "I got out to the landing area and notice the only personel left where those who didn't manage to get on the last shuttles after fighting them off, I notice we were quiet close to the relay, and let me tell you it's quite the experience seeing a Mass Relay from solid ground, I managed to get on the Normandy, but not before I had a lovely conversation with Harbinger by holo-com, we got through the relay before the asteroid smashed into it". Shepard then gave a chilling chuckle "a great day, 2 good things done at once, stopped a potential Reaper invasion that would have spread far more quickly and I got to wipe out a colony of worthless blinks, you know after all this I am thinking of starting up my own franchise, tell me what you think, Arathot Fried Batarian or perhaps Shepard's Barbequed Blink or what about Star Dried Squint?". Shepard continued with her speech, "what about this promotion, the Sentinel Special, large pieces of Batarian with a side order of Vorcha dippers with a portion of Eezo sauce, served in a Tech Armoured bucket". Liara, by this point had her head in her hands and the others were absolutely aghast

Shepard looked at the astonished faces of Garrus Kaiden and Ashley and quipped "it's like guppy fish at feeding time", Liara pleaded "siame", Ashley broke out of her stupor and cast out in shock "you're insane". Shepard with incredulouty replied "why?, if I didn't blow up that relay the Reapers would have came through much earlier and with the Alpha Relay they would have spread much faster", "Shepard, I get that, it's the joy you seem to take out of killing over 300000 people", Ashley knew that Shepard had no love for the Batarians, very few did, but she would never have previously taken so much pleasure over the deaths of so many of them. What was wrong with her friend Ashley thought, had she snapped through PTSD, did the trauma of her comeback break her psyche or was she just now nothing more than a soulless machine. The doubt got worse when Shepard replied to her "joy?, it was orgasmic, you have no idea how wet it makes a girl feel down there, the sheer ectasy of those animals being slaughtered is almost as great as being with Liara". Liara started to look guilty as well as be extremely worried for the sanity of her bondmate, with tears starting to form. Shepard continued her rant, "the thought of these bastards burning lifted my spirits, the only downside is that I had to kill the poor bastards they enslaved as well, but least their suffering was ended". Liara knew where Shepard was coming from with this, Shepard continued "I also managed to disprove an old wives tale of shite doesn't burn by proving that it actually does", Garrus had to interrupt "Shepard, please, this isn't you, you're not this calous monster, you're not someone who takes pleasure in potential mass murder", "oh, is that right?, and I thought you 3 would never go behind my back, disobey direct orders and go through my most personal details, but I guess we were both wrong", Kaiden finally spoke up "Shepard, the taking of your details was all me, they didn't know about it until I showed them in the life support bay, if you take it out on someone it should be me", "oh, don't worry, I will, by the time I'm finished you'll be lucky if you're a drum major never mind an actual major, I guess you 3 clowns didn't notice the security clearance of those files you broke into", "Shepard, I was consumed by paranoia, I didn't stop to think", "these files had the highest security clearance, only myself, Liara, Miranda Lawson, Admirals Hackett, Shepard and Anderson had clearance for all 3 files with the addition of Dr. Chakwas having clearance for the Lazarus file". There was an audible silence as the 3 started to fully realise the enormity of their error as Shepard went on "your little stunt, Alenko, not only could have put me in danger, put also the life of someone I care for more than anything as well as potentially lives in the Systems Alliance in danger, I have the right not only as a commanding officer of a ship on active duty, but also as a Spectre to have you put to death", "SHONA" Liara cried out, Shepard looked at Liara with great anguish and continued on "but I won't do that, I will because of not only our friendship and your outstanding record but also of no doubt of how Udina's poisonous influence must have effect you, give you a second chance and the same goes for you other 2, however this has consequences, for you Major Alenko, I am going to recommend a servere reprimand of the highest order appears on your record and if anything of those files comes out, I will make sure that not only will you face a firing squad, but your family will put in maximum security, and lesser, but still serious consequences will happen to you other 2 if anything of those files comes out, Lieutenant Commander Williams not only will you be sent to nearest available stockade, but your sister will get to know how Big Bertha's breath feels on the back of her neck and Garrus Vakarian, you will be sent back to the Hierarchy in so much disgrace that even most brazen bareface will be disgusted by your presence, now all 3 of you get out, "Shepard, I...", "I SAID GET OUT", after they left Shepard collapsed into a chair

Shepard had her hands over her hand as she leaned in towards the terminal, she never thought that her friends could do this to her, never thought they would ever betray her trust, "how did it ever become this bad, Liara, where did I go wrong?, "Shona, you didn't go wrong, Kaiden did or at least whatever was influencing his thought process went wrong, the other 2 were just caught up in the maelstorm", "yeah, I know, Liara, but it doesn't mean that I still don't blame myself", Shepard looked dejected as they sat in silence for a moment before Liara asked "you didn't really get that much enjoyment out of killing that many Batarians?", "no, well not to extent I was portraying to these 3, but I am not going to lie and say that I utterly regretted it", "SHONA", "Liara, the enemies we're fighting right now are all either indoctrinated or Reaperised to some extent, they have little or no self determination anymore, but the Batarians who were doing raids did and they knew well enough the impact of what they were doing and they choose to do it and they can't all say that it was the Hegemony that made them do it, because some of the worst operated in either the Traverse or the Terminus, I even heard one bastard on radio on Omega tell everyone that slavery was the Batarian's cultural right, can you believe that?, they actually believe that they have the right to not only enslave their own, but members of other races as well". Liara came over to embrace Shona, "and the fact that you're so passionately against it, means that you have compassion, but please, siame don't let what they do or did or what transpired today change that wonderful heart of yours, because that would be a tragedy", "Liara, as along as I've got you to light my way out of the dark that will never happen"


	29. Queen's Counsel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reports of trouble at the former Rachni home cluster trouble Shepard as she is recovering

The Rachni Queen was a being that Shepard freed on Noveria and Shepard had only heard about her from an Asari she met on Illium, who had met the Queen when the Rachni repaired her ship and in exchange the Asari went on to help the Rachni, now Wrex reported of trouble coming from the former Rachni home cluster. Wrex had sent in his best troops to investigate, but some of them went missing and he wanted Shepard help investigate. Shepard was still recovering from the breach of trust she suffered, but decided that this was a needed distraction, it had been confirmed that the terminals had not been tampered with and the lock on the door to Liara's office had been changed. She decided to bring Liara and Vega with her, it was too soon to start fully trusting Garrus, Kaiden and Ashley again, so she left the ship under the command of Engineer Adams while she was away on the mission

Shepard gave a mission brief to her team on the shuttle "Krogan scouts have reported activity in the Ninmah Cluster, we're here to back them up", Liara responded "I don't like this, we haven't heard anything about the Rachni since you freed that queen on Noveria", Vega had to interrupt "you telling me you let a Rachni Queen go, are you kidding?", Shepard replied "yes, it was the right thing to do, and Liara, I came across an Asari who came into contact with the Rachni, she said they were rebuilding, anyway, we're about to land". The team got off the shuttle on Utukku and met up with the Krogan team leader Urdnot Darg, leader of the elite Krogan unit, Aralakh Company who explained to them he sent teams into the caves, but they had yet to return. The team made their way through the camp until one of the prefaps they were inslid down a landslide to the mouth of a cave network, Darg shouted down "you are eager to find the enemy, commander", "yeah, but not that eager", Darg gave a hearty laugh. The team made into the cave where Shepard spotted the body of a Krogan scout "Darg, spotted one of the scouts, he's been dead a while, has his weapon with him", "you better take it , it could be useful", Shepard handed the flame thrower to Vega, who used it to destroy the webbing and spore pods. They came across the body of another Krogan scout with a data pad, who Shepard recognised, "oh fuck, Charr", "you knew him, Shona?" asked Liara, "yeah, helped him and an Asari called Eraba further their relationship on Illium", "you did quite a bit on Illium", "yeah, except the one thing I should have done, 20 feet, 20 fucking feet and I never knew you we were there", "siame, it's all right, we managed to find each other", "yeah, anyway the data pad is a last message for her, I'll take to her". The team came to an open and they dropped off a ledge to spot a Reaperised Rachni called a Ravager crawling down from a cave wall firing it's twin cannons in sequence, Shepard screamed "get down", just then the Ravager was joined by something familar to both Shepard and Vega, Collectors, Vega shouted "these fucks, I thought you destroyed them all, commander", "so did I, it seems they weren't all on that base, Vega you deal with that Ravager, we'll deal with the Collectors"

Vega fired his Typhoon at the Ravager, bursting the sacs it carried releasing a swarmer of smaller Reaper creatures, he cried out "yo, watch out, we have Swarmers here", Shepard and Liara noticed the small creatures scuttling around the cave floor, easy to deal with, but an an unneeded distraction. The Ravager fired it's cannons once more causing the team to seek cover, Vega then set his ammo to Incinderary and fired back at the Ravager then finished it off with a Carnage causing the creature to explode, Shepard and Liara were using biotic double teaming to take out the Collectors, butthe Collectors were not Husks and could change tactics, which they did. They deployed a flanking position to the team's left where it was most vulnerable, Shepard ordered Vega to throw a Frag Grenade, but the Collectors were too well entrenched, so the blast only merely stunned them. "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL", a booming voice was heard saying, Liara jumped in surprise "goddess, what was that?", Shepard replied in annoyance with the boooming voice "it's Harbinger, he's possessing one of the Collectors", one of the Collectors raised a few feet in the air and began to have a yellow glow, "WE ARE HARBINGER", the voice boomed. The possessed Collector doubled in endurance and developed biotics that glowed black instead of the usual blue, Shepard gave a warning to Liara "every 3rd warp this thing flings will be explosive and will knock you out of cover, the best tactic is to take out the normal Collectors first", Liara replied "why not go after the possessed one first?", "because if that one is destroyed then Harbinger will just possess another and thankfully it can only possess one at a time". The team quickly and carefully made their way to the entrenched Collectors, Liara launched a Singularity, which launched them from cover, Shepard finished the trapped Collectors with a Throw

Vega with lighting speed took out his boot knife, ran up to the possessed Collector and put the knife through it head, "that's for April, you fuck", the Collector staggered as Shepard and Liara shot at it. "You OK, Vega" Shepard asked with concern, Vega replied "yeah" and walked on. Shepard having seen what the Collectors did or rather what their puppet masters made them do knew that this wasn't true, but like Vega, she carried on. The team came to a metal barrier which was unlocked by destroying a locking mechanism, this unfortunately caused a cave in, which the team managed to avoid by jumping in the tunnel. Darg came over the com "commander, what's that noise?", "cave in, we're alright", "good, Darg out". The team carried on, Liara commented "the Rachni thrive in toxic environments, but this planet's atmosphere is breathable", Vega then proceeded "yeah, the Reapers are building an army done here, think about it, they breed real fast and by the time anyone knew about it, it'd be too late". The team heard gunfire as they saw Darg's Krogan engaged in battle with Ravagers "we're cornered and need a way out" they heard Darg call out. Shepard destroyed an another locking mechanism allowing the Krogan to retreat

After speaking with Darg the team made their way through a tight crevice to a open chamber where Vega noticed a large object moving in the distance "what is that?", "that's the Rachni Queen and by the look of things the Collectors have her tied down" Shepard replied. They jumped down from the ledge only to trapped by metal barriers, "we've got to find the power node" Liara called out, as soon as Shepard shot the node the team was swarmed by Collectors and a few Ravagers. Shepard activated her Biotic Protector Sphere, while Vega threw a Frag Grenade at a crowd of Collectors causing wide spread carnage, Shepard told Liara to take her Lift Grenades, Liara questioned this "shouldn't you tell Lieutenant Vega to take he has a longer throw", "Liara, they're biotically charged they won't work the same if Vega uses them, take one and roll it in those Collectors that are advancing". Liara rolled the Grenade and the explosion caused the Collectors to be suspended in the air, Liara finished them with a Warp. Shepard was feeling the strain of so much firepower pounding her Sphere, "guys I am going to have to drop this Sphere, when I tell you, dive into that cover", a small outcrop was to the team's immediate right

Shepard gave the word to dive into cover just as her Sphere was about to falter, she then took out an energy bar to which Vega questioned "is it the time for that?", Liara replied for her "biotics burn through a lot of calories and that Sphere she produced would tax an Asari Matriarch, imagine what it must have done to her", "yeah, I get it", Vega replied somberly looking at Shepard who was trying to build up her energy. Vega and Liara were shooting out of cover when Shepard ordered Vega to use his Incendary Ammo on the remaining Ravager that was behind the Collectors, Shepard gave her reasoning "that thing is giving covering fire for those Collectors, if we go out there, we'll be torn to pieces", Vega protested "commander, I can only get a few hits in, we're really pinned down here", "a few is all you'll need", "come again, commander?", "just trust me", Vega then fired at the Ravager and and a few shots was all he could get in as the returning fire from the Collectors was making it difficult to get in a precise line of fire, but it was enough as Shepard managed to follow it up with an Overload causing a fire explosion destroying the Ravager. "WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO, I got to me one of them" Vega loudly proclaimed as they watched the Ravager explode, without the Ravager to provide artillery support the Collectors became easier targets, but the team still needed to be careful. Liara used another Singularity to trap a few while Shepard used her Locust on them, Vega used his Typhoon to cut a path through several others that weren't caught. The Typhoons were N7 weapons, one of many weapon lines gifted to Shepard through her N7 commission, she had other weapon lines gifted through other commissions and commendations, the trouble was because of Shepard's especially low weight capacity most weapons outside of pistols and SMG's were detrimental to her recharge time and the Typhoon was one of the worst. Not only that, but the Typhoon had a powerful kickback that made it shaky when used by others beside N7 Destroyers, Krogan or other muscular beings like Vega, although Shepard's physical strength had been enhanced greatly, she still found the Typhoon to be shaky in her hands when she used in the firing range, but to some like Vega, it was like placing an instument in the hands of a master craftsman.

Soon enough the last Collector fell and the last lock to the Rachni Queen fell, the queen was surrounded by Krogan corpses which she used to communicate "THE SOUR YELLOW NOTE HAS CEASED", Vega reacted "what the hell?". Shepard hushed him with a wave and asked the queen "what happened to you?", the Queen replied "THE MACHINES LOCK US MAKE US BREEDER FOR CHILDREN THEY CORRUPT", Shepard internally thought {"those bastards will die for this and the other crimes they commit"}, Liara caught the thought the link, [and I will be with you to make sure you're able to make that happen]. The Queen continued "THE MACHINES COME TAKE THEM TO WAR, THEY DIE FAR AWAY, ALONE, there was a sound of sudden movement, Darg came over the com "we're getting a lot of movement out here, Shepard", the Queen called out "THE CHILDREN RETURN, THEY WILL DESTROY US ALL, RELEASE US". Shepard went to to shoot the locking mechanism and asked the Queen "I met an Asari friend of yours on Illium, what happened to her?", "TAKEN, CORRUPTED", Shepard felt a mix of sadness and rage. After releasing the queen Shepard radioed Darg "we're gonna need a way out", just then a part of the cave wall got blasted and Darg guided the team through the tunnels, they had almost made it out when they were cornered by Ravagers, Darg told the team that the shuttle was up the tunnel and told them to go while he dealt with the Ravagers. The team and a few Krogan survivors waited for Darg at the shuttle, when it was obvious that he hadn't survived thet made the sad trip back to the Normandy


	30. Melody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events of the past week put a toll on Shepard, so she decides to unwind by surprising Liara in the Pugatory Night Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shona's type of music is Gothic/Operatic Metal, especially the music of Sirenia, Within Temptation, Xandria, Delainn and others

Normally returning to the Normandy would have felt relaxing to Shepard after such a stressful mission, but the mistrust between her and 3 members of her crew had put paid to any notion of that. No longer could she confide in them, no longer could she seek the comfort of friendship with them, no longer could she see them as anything more than crew, perhaps one day that would change back to how it was, but not now. It was made even more painful by the fact that 3 were once like a second family to her, they had been there when she was made a Spectre, mourned Jenkins together after Virmire, defeated Saren and Sovereign together and the 3 of them had been with Liara when they reunited with her on Lesuss. She knew it would be sooner rather than later that she would admit her second family again, but for now she had to keep them at a distance.

"She was a kind, beautiful soul, Liara", Shepard said of the Rachni Queen's Asari helper, "she told me she used to be a courier before pirates shot down her ship, the Rachni came to her aid, repaired her ship better than it was before. She was so grateful that she decided to help the Rachni by helping them get items they couldn't get themselves, she even gave me a message from the Queen and the way she said it was so beautiful it filled me with hope, I hope whoever designed those fucking Reapers is rotting away in some isolated hell, no one deserves to be turned into a Banshee, especially not someone like her", Liara replied "so you don't believe any of Sovereign's claims then", "of course I don't, Liara, the Reapers are advanced, yes, they are semi organic, but they are ultimately machines and all machines at some point had an organic originator, someone designed the first one, only pure organic life is natural and despite what that hunk of junk said, it's A.I life that is developed by accident", "but they built the Mass Relays and the Citadel", "did they?, Liara, or where they directed to build them by some outside force?". Liara thought about this when Shepard broke her chain of thought "anyway ,enough moping around, I've arranged for some shore leave on the Citadel, which I think we all need, considering the past week

The Normandy arrived at it's usual berth of docking bay of Docking Bay D24 and the crew diembarked, Shepard turned to Liara "Liara, make your way to Pugatory, I'll be there in a hour, I have a few things to do", Shepard then left Liara, who made her way to Pugatory. When she got there she had the pleasant surprise of seeing Tali, "Tali, it's so good to see you", "it's good to see you too, Liara, how's it been?", "frustrating, we've been managing to do good work against, but we've had some major setbacks", "setbacks, what setbacks?", "well, the Reapers have been converting some human women into a new terrifying type of creature called Provocateurs and there is Major Alenko", "Kaiden?, what's happened, Liara?, "he somehow got it into his head that I was manipulating Shona", "Kaiden, how?", "After the Cerberus coup on the Citadel Shona invited him back on the Normandy, he assumed he would be XO, but when she informed him it was me he was not too happy, and when he spoke to some of the others he found out about our link and he thought I was using it to manipulate Shona", "hmm, it seems that Kaiden has became quite paranoid since being with Udina", "yes, and it gets worse, he broke into my office and took 3 highly classified files and showed them to Ashley and Garrus, he eventually told Shona and apologised for it, realising his mistake, but it has caused a rift between Shona and these 3", "keelah, it's bad enough that the Reapers are here without this", "I know, so tell me, Tali, how did it go with the Migrant Fleet?", "don't ask, when I showed the footage of Legion, the Admirality went balistic, Gerrel proclaimed this was evidence that the Geth had advanced too far and where now infiltrating galactic society, I tried to tell him that Legion was unique", "what about the others?", "Xen saw a chance for experimental research, Raan was on the fence, only Korris saw a chance for diplomacy, I tell you, Liara, these idiots are going to get us killed"

Just then the pair were interrupted by announcement "hey, all you there, we've got a treat for you, some live music from today's performer, Shona Shepard". Liara's face went into her hands remembering Shona's rather unique dancing at the Lounge,"oh, goddess" she sighed, Tali was surprised "I never knew Shepard sang", "neither did I, Tali, I hope she is better at this than she is dancing". The band play a thundering, but melodious beat as Shepard came out, she was dressed in a floor length sleeveless black gothic dress that had what looked like a black corset with a red flower pattern at the mid section, she also had on black knee length high heeled boots and black laced evening gloves, her lips had black lipstick and head had a tiara of flowers and what could be described in Asari culture as Gemfel. This complimented her red eyes and glowing scars as she came out looking ethereal, otherworldly and stunningly beautiful. Then she started to sing, Liara feared the worst, but there was absolutely nothing to fear as Shepard's voice matched her look with a phenomenal vocal range that had the audience captivated. Liara was absolutely stunned, she couldn't believe that this dark dressed scarred angel was hers and she felt even more lucky. After about an hour Shepard stopped to rapturious applause and began to speak "thank you, thank you, there is someone here I would like to join me up here, Liara T'Soni would you please care to join me?". All eyes turned to Liara as she nervously made her way to the stage, when she got there Shepard, rather unsure of Asari custom went on one knee and presented Liara with a Promise Bracelet and said before the watching crowd "Liara T'Soni, I love you more than words can say, will you consent to be my Bondmate", after only a brief pause Liara responded almost explosively with "yes, yes", the crowd errupted with cheers as Shepard got up and put the bracelet on Liara and handed her another Promise Bracelet which Liara proceeded to put on Shona. When the bracelets were put on the 2 Promised had a long passionate kiss on stage to the approval and some jealousy of the watching crowd

Tali congratulated the pair "I so happy for you both", Shepard happily responded "thanks, Tali, how's things with the fleet?", "we can talk about that back on the Normandy", "you're joining us, Tali?", "after what Liara told me, you need me", Shepard became a little despontant "ah , she told you about Kaiden?", "yes, how could he do that?", "I don't know, but for now I consider the matter closed", "as you wish, Shepard, but I'll be watching him". Shepard then asked Tali "we're going to register our intent for a Bonding Ceremony at the Asari embassy, do you want to join us?", Tali was quite happy about the request "yes, I would love to join you". The 3 of them made their way to the Asari embassy. The embassy receptionist looked curiously at the trio of the gothic dressed human female, the Asari maiden and Quarian female "can I help you?" Shepard answered "we would like to register our intent for a Bonding Ceremony", "names please", "Commander Shona Shepard and Doctor Liara T'Soni". The receptionist put in the names into her computer and got a display on her screen indicating that the ambassador wanted to see the pair, "the ambassador would like to see the both of you", Liara was curious "this is strange, registering for Bonding Ceremonies are dealt with at reception, what could she want with us?". The trio made their way into the office when the receptionist said "the Quarian will have to remain here". Tali remained at the reception, while Shepard and Liara went into the office

The ambassador, Irissa, greeted the couple as they came into her office and offered them refreshment, she then got to the point of the meeting "I believe that the both of you wish to register for a Bonding Ceremony", this was not asked as a question, but as a statement, Liara replied "yes, but I am puzzled as to why you have invited us here, ambassador, such requests are usually handled at the reception desk", "yes, usually they are, but your case is quite unique", "how so, ambassador?", "you, Liara T'Soni, after your mother's passing are now the head of a Thessian great house", "but I haven't had much to do with the household affairs for many years", "perhaps, but you are still considered head under Asari law and the person you are choosing to bond with has galactic influence". Shepard had to interrupt "with respect, ambassador, I think you might be over playing it a bit, I am only a mid level Alliance officer and a Council Spectre", "really?, you survived a nest of Thresher Maws, helped to minimise Batarian piracy in the Traverse, been exposed to Prothean technology many times and survived intact, exposed a rogue Spectre and saved the Council from his and his master's plan's, got your people a seat on the Council, came back from the embrace of the goddess, came back from the Omega 4 relay and are successfully rallying a galaxy to your banner to fight the Reapers, I would say that your influence is great, even if you don't recognise it". Liara returned the meeting back to the point of why it was arranged "but that still does not tell us why you want to see us, ambassador", "because of who you are, not only as a head of a great house, but as a daughter of a highly influential matriarch coupled with the fact that your Promised has done more to influence the galaxy in the last decade than most Asari have done in the last millennium would give your house too much sway in the eyes of many in the Matriarchal Council if you were legally bonded". Shepard cut in "I have no real interest in politics and many of the moments you list were part of me doing the job that I was assigned to", "rubbish, commander, many have been assigned difficult tasks, but none except you have managed to do so many in such a short amount time or with such skill, you even managed to accomplish the impossible, that is what is worrying the Matriarchs"

Liara was uneasy "worrying the Matriarchs?", Irissa exhaled "they are worried that you being bonded to someone like Shepard will give you undue influence in Asari society", Shepard interrupted "so I would not be exactly be a welcome sight on Thessia or any Asari controlled world?", "oh,no, commander, quite the contrary, if you were to choose to live on Thessia or any of our worlds, it would be seen as a political victory by many Asari", "I would choose to live on Thessia, but with all respect, giving a political victory to the Asari would not be the reason", "quite, but the fact remains it would still be seen by many as such and your bonding with Dr. T'Soni would be seen as a House T'Soni victory in particularly, also there is your, how shall we say, your market value". Both Shepard and Liara looked annoyed at this, "market value?" Shepard asked carefully, "yes", "you tell these blue and purple crones, I am not some slave to be sold, I have torn to pieces many slavers in my career", "perhaps you misunderstand me, what I meant to say was your value as a bondmate, they are many matriarchs that would desire to see you bonded to their daughters or house matrons or maidens". Liara almost exploded with jealousy "that's not going to happen and you can tell these witches, I won't allow it, they have no legal recourse to refuse our bonding, so they are trying to make it as politically uncomfortable for me as possible, because many of them saw my mother as a great political rival and my Promised as a prize to be won, they're afraid that House T'Soni would totally eclipse them if our bonding was to proceed unhindered, well you can tell them the bonding is taking place after the war and they could help themselves by getting off their backsides and contributing to the war effort, come, Shona, we're leaving", with that the pair left the embassy

CODEX ENTRY

GEMFEL

Jewellery wore on an Asari's crest in the same manner that can be worn in a human females hair

CODEX ENTRY

ASARI SOCIETY

Advertised in many codexes as being an E-Democracy where citizens make policy based on plebisite through the extranet. In reality the Asari are run by their matriarchy who actually make policy, the maidens and matrons having often voting in plebisites as the advice from their local matriarchs directs them to. Anyone who knows anything about Asari politics knows that the plebisites are nothing more than rubber stamps approving policy created by matriarchs


	31. Ice Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is given by one hand.........

When Shepard and Liara got back to the Normandy they were told by Specialist Traynor that Admiral Hackett was waiting on Q E.C. Shepard went to the Q.E.C and activated it, the image of Admiral Hackett appeared "Shepard, we sent Ms. Lawson to Garvug to investigate possible Cerberus activity, she has not reported in for nearly a week, we need you to go there and investigate", "I'm on it, admiral", "good, Hackett, out". Shepard told Joker to set a course for Garvug, one of the few Krogan colony worlds, also known as a frozen wasteland. Shepard informed the crew that they were going to Garvug, "we've been told that Miranda Lawson was on Garvug investigating the possibility of a Cerberus presence on the planet, Garrus, Tali, you'll be coming with me", Garrus responded "and what is the mission there?", "Miranda hasn't been in contact for nearly a week, we're to investigate why", "do you think Cerberus might have got to her?", "that's what we intend to find out, so go and gear up". Tali and Garrus went to the armoury to select their weapons and armour

Garvug was a planet given to the Krogan as a way of thanks for their contribution in the Rachni war, the draining of resources had turned much of the habitable zone of the planet into a frozen tundra, something that didn't suit the 2 dextro squadmates who came from environments that were warmer than the standard human environment. In fact, only the Volus had a colder homeworld surface temperature than Humanity and only the Hanar had a larger percentage of the surface of their homeworld covered in water than Humanity, this had confused many of the early Citadel envoys who had went to Earth after the conclusion of the First Contact war, they believed that the human homeworld would either be a forest or desert world and were shocked to see evidence of large oceans on the surface, so much so, that many of them believed that were being taken to a colony world until they noticed the very large population. The Krogan on the other hand were a race to which garden world surface temperatures almost had no meaning, they could thrive in the coldest ice covered wastelands or the hottest deserts

The team landed on Garvug only to find out that they were no Cerberus forces, but the area was crawling with Reaper creatures, Shepard called out to Cortez "stay close, we may need to bug out", "aye - aye, mam", the team jumped out of the shuttle and immediately fired on the charging Husks. The team noticed a scanning light being shone on them and noticed a pair of Repearised Salarians, they looked like they were infused with scanning technology, the team quickly took out the Instigators, which were even easier than the Husks, Shepard commentated "the Reapers must be getting desperate if they're deploying these guys". Tali wondered why the Reapers would make such useless creatures "what were they scanning?, surely they must know we're here". Unfortunately it would not take long for the team to find out as the sound of a piercing screech filled the air, "what was that?" asked Tali in panic, Garrus answered with a grim look "a Provocateur", "what are they?", "Reaperised Human female biotics". The creature was accompanied by 3 Ogres and a squad of Husks and Cannibals, the Husks and Cannibals swarmed Tali and Garrus and left Shepard isolated with the Provocateur and the Ogres

The Ogres aimed their weapons at Shepard and fired, she managed to dive out of the incoming blast and launch a Homing Grenade damaging the armour of one them and denting the armour of another, before the could aim again she launched a Cryo Blast at the Ogre with the damaged armour and used her Locust to finish off the now vulnerable Ogre. She noticed that the Provocateur was not joining in any of the attacks and was simply gliding, observing both battles, Tali and Garrus were handling the Husks and Cannibals, but the numbers didn't make it easy. Shepard was wondering why the Provocateur was not attacking, then she saw it's face, Miranda Lawson had not been waylaid by Cerberus, but had been taken by Reaper forces, she was now the Provocateur directing the attacks, "MIRANDA" Shepard called out. The shout had been heard by the squad and Garrus looked with remorse and anger at the former human female, but said nothing as he and Tali fought off the Reaper Creatures. The 2 remaining Ogres again fired their weapons and again Shepard managed to dodge, but she was noticing the Ogres aim was not directly at her, but near her as if almost they were herding her

The Provocateur observed as Shepard used a Warp to further damaged the armour of the dented armoured Ogre, she then rolled out of the way of it's melee attack and fired her Locust damaging the creature, it tried another melee attack that was again avoided and Shepard managed to finish off the Ogre. This unfortunately gave the last remaining Ogre time to aim it's weapon, Shepard had to quickly dive out of the way, but she was caught by a mighty biotic stun blast from the Provocateur. Shepard was staggering semi conscious when the Provocateur quickly glided up to her and with it's metalic nails tore off a piece of her armour, staggering her back further, the creature used it's right arm to hold Shepard into position, while the nails on it's left hand had elongated and thined into needles. The creature that was once Miranda started to carefully bring it's left arm to Shepard's mid section while looking at her with a malicious grin. Shepard stood there, horrified, held in the creatures grasp in a sort of stupor. She in her stupor could have almost sworn she heard the creature saying to her "soon, sister, you will be one of us and join us" as the Provocateur brought it's needles closer to her. The terror of knowing what was about to happen caused her to scream as the needles were about to come into contact with her skin, "OH GOD, PLEASE LET ME DIE, PLEASE DON'T LET ME BE TURNED INTO ONE OF THESE THINGS, PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME INTO SOMETHING THAT WOULD HURT LIARA". She had heard from Garrus what had happened to Falare's sister, Rila, she had been injected with Reaper nanites and left to suffer while she began to be turned into a Banshee and now she was facing the same kind of fate. She knew as soon as the Provocateur finished injecting her, it would leave her to suffer and that Garrus and Tali would rush her back to the Normandy, where 2 scenes now played in her mind. The first where she had to ask her weeping Promised to end her suffering, knowing what that would do to her and the second was where she fully converted and began to attack those nearest to her, this caused her scream to become louder The scream was loud enough to be heard by Tali, who turned to watch the grizzly scene in absolute terror

Tali screamed "GARRUS, QUICK, SHEPARD'S IN TROUBLE", Garrus turned to see what Tali was screaming at and roared with rage at the sight before him, they had just gotten her back in their lives and now they were in danger of losing her if they didn't act quickly. Garrus and Tali ran quickly to Shepard's position using their tech and combat powers to quickly take down the last Ogre. The Provocateur had started to penetrate Shepards skin at the mid section with it's needles, when it was hit by an Overload by Garrus stunning it and Tali releasing a Combat Drone, screaming "GO FOR THE OPTICS, CHIKKITA, GO FOR THE OPTICS", while the creature was preoccupied with the drone, Tali and Garrus dragged a now collapsed Sheppard to safety behind some rubble, Garrus called into his com "Cortez, come to our position, we need to get out, Shepard's down". Cortez quickly arrived as Tali and Garrus were fighting the last remaining Husks and helped them get Shepard's body onto the shuttle, once on the shuttle Garrus radioed the Normandy "Dr. Chakwas, we need to prepare the med-bay, Shepard has been badily injured".

As soon as the shuttle landed in the shuttle bay, Garrus along with Cortez and Vega carried Shepard's near unconscious body to the med-bay, Liara, who felt a rush of panic through the link was waiting for them on the crew deck outside the med-bay. When she saw Garrus and the human men carrying Shepard she went into full panic "GODDESS, WHAT'S HAPPENED?", Tali took her aside "she was attacked by a Provocateur, it was Miranda", Liara wanted to respond, but no words were able to pass her lips. The 3 males placed Shepard on a med-bed and were told to leave as Chakwas made her scans, they went out to the crew deck to join Tali, who was explaining to Liara what happened. Chakwas made her scans of Shepards body. What she found shocked her, "no, please not this", she saw the miniscule movement of foreign cybernetic bodies in Shepard's mid section, she knew exactly what they were and with barely contained emotion opened the med-bay door and shouted out "YOU 3, IN HERE NOW AND TAKE SHEPARD TO THE SLEEPER PODS", the 3 men came in and took Shepard's body to the row of sleeper pods between the crew deck and the main battery. Liara was now almost in hysterics "doctor, what's happened, what's wrong with her?", Chakwas waved her questions aside as she accompanied the 3 males to the sleeper pods, it was all she could do for the moment, once Shepard's body was placed in a pod Chakwas communicated with EDI "Level 10 quarantine stasis procudures to be placed on Sleeper Pod Alpha 4, authorisation Chakwas, Karin, Chief Medical Officer, SSV Normandy", EDI responded "at once, doctor"

Liara knowing what that meant almost collapsed, it was only ever used when a patient was placed into full stasis and the pod sealed to all but the most senior medical personel, not even members of the Alliance admirality could open the pod once this protocol was in place. Once the pod was fully sealed, Chakwas gathered the others to the med-bay and began to speak "Commander Shepard's body has been infected by Reaper nanites, fortunately, it would seem that the process was interrupted at the earliest stage and that Shepard's own nanites are fighting the invading nanites, however the pour has only been slowed to a trickle for the moment, but unless we get her to a specialised medical facility, the conversion process could still fully, although more slowly, take place and for this reason I have unfotunately had to place Commander Shepard in maximum quarantine stasis and I will be contacting Admiral Anderson on the Matterhorn to take the pod to a specialised facility". Liara after hearing this collapsed to her knees on the floor screaming in sheer emotional agony thinking that the fate that became of Gruutersson and Lawson could now be awaiting her Promised

CODEX ENTRY

INSTIGATORS

Instigators created from Reaperised Salarians are the recon units of the Reaper armies and are totally useless in battle. Their purpose with the myriad of scanning equippment implanted into their bodies is to scan the landscape for high priority targets and to instigate other Reaper troops to go after them

CODEX ENTRY

REAPER CONVERSION PROCESSES

The Reapers create ground troops by taking captured civilians and military personel that have not been selected for processing or indoctrination and putting them them through any number of horrifying procedures, the first one to be known was the use of Dragons Teeth, where a human civilian victim would be impaled on a large pike and converted into a Husk, this is only practical for creating small groups of Husks. Another process is extensive surgery, this used to create creatures made of the biomass of more than one victim. The most common procedure by far is the use of conversion pods, which victims are placed in and quickly or slowly, depending on the type, turned into Reaper creatures. The last type of procedure known is nanite injection, this is where a victim is injected with Reaper nanites and left to slowly and agonisingly to turn into a Reaper creature, this procedure can also be deployed by certain Reaper creatures like Provocateurs to create more of their kind on the field. The Reaper proxies, Cerberus also use conversion pods, nanite injections and surgical procedures to turn victims into troops


	32. Athame's Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy is left without Shepard and command passes down to....

Chakwas managed to calm Liara in the med-bay after the others left, she told Chakwas "I'll be accompanying Shepard to the medical facility", Chakwas looked forlorn as she replied "Liara, you won't be able to go with her, it's a secure facility", "won't be able to go?, please I must go with her", "the Normandy won't be able to go, it's a top secret facility, that is why we are meeting with the Matterhorn in the Rosetta Nebula, and Liara, if they can't stop the conversion process they might have to put her to rest". Liara still unhappy seemed at some level to understand, "then in that case I will go to the CIC, there is much to be done", "Liara, are you sure you're up to it?", "no, but I have to do something", she left the med-bay and went to the CIC. When she arrived she heard shouts of "like hell", "I don't think so", "no way, penjado", "that's not a good idea" coming from various voices, Liara asked "what is going on?", Garrus answered "the major here seems to think that it would be a good idea for him to take command of the Normandy", Kaiden tried to defend his position "Liara, with the commander down, I think it would be appropriate for me to take command of......", he never got to finish his statement as he was flung across the CIC from a biotic blast from Liara. She went up to him and told him in no uncertain terms "because of you, Shepard lost faith in those closest to her, because of you, she had her inner most secrets unraveled, because of you, she no longer knew who she could trust and because of you, that lack of trust might be the thing that turns her into a Reaper's creature", she knew within herself that what happened on Garvug was not his fault, but she would be damned if she allowed him to take command because of it. She continued on "if you try to make a play to take command when we meet up with Anderson, I'll tell him chapter and verse of what you have been doing since you've came aboard and if the facility has to put my Promised to rest because they can't stop her conversion into becoming a Provocateur, I will make sure you are transformed into a cadaver, now I suggest that when Anderson arrives that you ask for a transfer". Kaiden tried to protest "but she's forgiven me", Liara coldly answered "she might have, but I haven't and she might let you back on board if she recovers, but for now I am in command of the Normandy and I suggest you ask for that transfer", Kaiden after this kept silent

The Normandy met up with the Matterhorn and an accompanying cruiser that was a Council special quarantine ship, heavily armoured and heavily armed, unusual for a medical cruiser, but necessary. Admiral Anderson boarded from the Matterhorn and a special quarantie containment unit came from the cruiser, the quarantine ship had been given full disclosure on Shepard's cybernetically enhanced body, a move that was necessary, but highly unwanted. Dr. Chakwas directed the unit to the pods and Shepards pod was detached, as the pod was taken by the unit Liara pleaded with them "please bring her back to me", a sympathetic Asari tried to reassure her "we'll do everything we can". Anderson demanded to know what happened, Garrus told him of the events that happened on Garvug and then he wanted to know of the situation on the Normandy and why Major Alenko requested a transfer to the Matterhorn. Garrus told him "he wasn't happy with his time on board", Anderson knew there was more to it, but under the circumstances did not push it and accepted Kaiden's transfer, he then asked about who was in command "I understand that Dr. T'Soni is in command", "yes, Shepard named her as XO". Anderson wasn't entirely happy with a military vessel being under the command of someone who for all intents and purposes was a civilian, but the Normandy was a Spectre ship, so he had no command jurisdiction over it

Anderson went to speak with Liara "Dr. T'Soni, I would like to talk with you about the Normandy", "Admiral, with all due respect, if you are here to advocate that we hand the Normandy fully into Alliance hands or that I should step down from command to allow an Alliance officer to assume, then I must warn you that you have on this errand made a wasted journey", "that's not what I am here for", "then why?", "I am here to inform you that Councilor Tevos has requested that the Normandy return to the Citadel". Liara knew that request in this case did not mean a wish suggestion, but a direct order and as the Normandy was a Spectre vessel it answered to the Council and as such she would have to obey it. Liara cooly replied "if that is the Councillor's wish, then I shall abide by it", "Liara, I know it can't be easy, but I also think it would be for the best", Liara was incredulous "for the best?, my Promised is locked in a coffin for the living, almost frozen in time in an attempt to prevent her transformation into something so repugnent that death would be a merciful alternative and you want me to return to the Citadel and be idle while those who caused this travesty are still out there", "Dr. T'Soni, I helped raise her as did Karin and believe me when I say that I don't like the idea of the Normandy being recalled, but the Councillor has also stated the need for your presence as well". Liara was puzzled "my presence, but why?", "I wish I had that information, but the Councillor has requested it". Liara finished with a request for Anderson "Admiral, if the facility has to put my Promised to rest, please promise me that you will do everything in your power to bring her remains to me for internment and not let her be disecrated by being taken apart for scientific research", "Liara, I promise you , here and now, that is never going to happen", the pair shared a brief hug to comfort each other

The Admiral left with the Matterhorn and Shepard's body left with the medical cruiser, Liara set a course for the Citadel. When the Normandy docked at the Citadel, Liara went straight to Councilor Tevos office where she was greeted by not only Councilor Tevos, but also Admiral Shepard. Liara went straight to Admiral Shepard "I am sorry, I am so sorry" she said almost weeping, Admiral Shepard replied "don't be, none of this is your fault", "if only I was with her", "Liara, I saw the mission reports from Garrus and Tali, there was almost nothing you could have done if you were there, you all had bad intel", "we had little intel", "little intel is bad intel, my daughter had no real idea what she was getting herself into", "I should have been able to come up with something, I should ...", "hey, hey, hey, stop that, it's not your, Tali's, Garrus's or even Lawson's fault, the ones to blame are those bastard Reapers, they are the ones who caused all this", "I am just so worried, Admiral". The Admiral gave Liara the warmest smile "hey, none of that Admiral nonsense, it's Hannah to you", "Hannah, Imade an arrangement with Admiral Anderson, should the worst come to pass, I hope you don't mind", "what is it?, Liara", "I asked for Shona's remains to be given to me should they have to put her to rest, I am so sorry to have assumed so much", "please, having them given to the person who has given my daughter so much love and joy would be a honour, but promise me one thing", "I will, what is it?", "promise me that if the worst does befall my daughter that you will take up her crusade and lead the galaxy of wiping out the Reaper filth from existence", "oh, I will, believe me, even if I have to cause the stars to turn dark

Liara then turned to Tevos "Councilor, I believe that you requested my presence", "yes, I offer condolences at this time of crisis, but we must continue our work, we must talk about the Normandy, now that for the moment that Shepard is no longer available", "Councilor, Shepard made me her XO and with her absent that would make me the Normandy's CO, unless you wish to change that". Tevos looked thoughtful as she said "I do not, however the Normandy is a Spectre vessel and therefore requires a Spectre to be on board", "I understand, Councilor", "no, you do not, the Spectre is not to take command unless something should happen to you", "who is it?", Liara asked fearing it would be either an overbearing Turian or an inquisitive Salarian. Tevos gave a reassuring smile "the Spectre is one who I have just appointed and one you should be very familar with", Liara wondered as Tevos summoned the person to come into the office. Liara's eyes widen with joy as she saw who it was that came through "Shi'ala"

The pair held each other arms forwards to the elbows and gently connected foreheads, afterwards Liara happily greeted Shi'ala "it's so good to see you again, "and you too, Liara, although I wish it was under better circumstances". Shiala was the captain of Matriarch Benezia's commando bodyguard, most of whom became indoctrinated along with Benezia and had to be put to rest along with Benezia on Noveria. Now a similar situation had brought them together except it was not indoctrination, but the potential Reaperfication of Shepard, a thought that tore apart Liara and having her long time mentor and friend somewhat helped to relieve her. Tevos told Shi'ala of her assignment on the Normandy "Shi'ala, you are to act as advisor to Maiden T'Soni and to be the ground assault squad leader", "I will serve Maiden T'Soni well, Councilor". Liara although now fully, at least hopefully temporary, in command of the Normandy was thankful for Shi'ala coming aboard as although she now had combat experience, she had little real experience as a combat leader. Shi'ala had served not only as Benezia's commando captain for 2 centuries, but was also one of Benezia's most trusted acolytes up until Benezia's indoctrination, her experience would be an asset not only to Liara, but to also to the Normandy crew

Liara thanked the Councilor and Admiral Shepard and told Shi'ala to go to Dock D-24, Liara had informed Garrus that Shi'ala would be arriving. Liara had some more to say to the councilor "Councilor, have you had any luck with getting the matriarchs to commit more to the war effort?", "unfortunately not, they seem content to have our fleets guard the home system", "what even after what was was shown to them?", "they still think that the crisis will be resolved before the Reapers invade the Athena Nebula". Words failed Liara, "I knew senility was cruel to humans and Turians, but I never thought it could affect our people to this degree, these old crones really are idiotic, most of the galaxy is getting torn apart and they think it will be over before it reaches Thessia, I tell you here and now that if we survive this, big changes will have to be made to our society", "Liara, I understand your frustration, but proposing change to our society might be a step too far and it might be seen as the humans would say as throwing the baby out with the bathwater". Liara was determined "really?, well the baby has grown up and had children of it's own and the bathwater has became stagnant and riddled with disease", Tevos gave Liara a questioning look as Liara continued "we have allowed our society to become so stagnant that it has barely moved in 2 millennia, while humans only 3 centuries ago were using horse drawn carts and steam power as their modes of transportation and look at them now, one of the main powers in galactic society". Tevos answered "swift technological advance is not the be all and end all of a progressing society", "no, but it is a good indication of one, the ship I am on is perhaps the most advanced in the entire galaxy and such advances were made possible not only by technological advances in human society, but also by social advances, something where we have been stagnant", "yes, but we have a more unified society with far less conflict and more cooperation", "what we have is a cadre of old crones running our society and the rest of us just nodding and agreeing to it, because we are raised not to question the wisdom of the matriarchs, well that might get us all killed, anyway I must, with your permission, be on my way", "yes, and I'll keep on petition the matriarchy, now that the Reapers have invaded the Nimbus Cluster and Silean Nebula perhaps they'll take notice". Liara gave the councilor a slight bow and left for the Normandy


	33. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liara and Shi'ala catch up with each other

Liara was showing Shi'ala around the Normandy and was arranging accommodation for her, wile she introduced her to the squad "Shi'ala, this is Ashley, Garrus, Tali and Vega", "yes I met all of you, except for you Mr Vega on Feros". The squad all welcomed her to the ship and told her that any friend of Shepard's was a friend of theirs, Shi'ala asked about Kaiden, she knew that Wrex was now the Krogan leader, Liara told her "they were some difficulties with him on board, so he requested a transfer and was granted such", "what kind of difficulties?", "the type that I will tell you about another time, for now let us catch up with each other". The pair had barely communicated with each other since Feros and they wanted to talk with each other. Liara took Shi'ala to her office and offered her some Serrice Ice Brandy and the pair finally got chatting with each other Liara wanted to know what happened on Feros since she was last on it, Shi'ala told hold her "we stablised Zhu's Hope and Exo Geni helped fund the colonisation project, but we had some health problems due to the Thorian's spores", "what type of problems?", "well for one as you can see my skin colour", Shi'ala skin was green instead of either the usual blue, purple, turquise or grey, Shiala continued "also my biotics were unstable and most of the colonists were suffering from headaches or muscle spasms", "what did you do?", "we signed a contract with Barria Frontiers to let them help us for next to nothing". Liara was quite surprised at the generosity "that's quite unusual for such a corparation", yes, well, let's just say it was not that generous, they wanted to conduct invasive procedures on the colonists and when they understandibly refused Barria Frontiers threatened to sue for breach of contract or have the colonists pay full cost", "what happened?" "I went to Illium to try to negotiate with one of their representives, an Asari called Erinya, to no avail, luckly I met up with Shepard and told her of our situation , I don't know what she did, but she managed to admend the contract to benefit the colonists

This caused Liara to be both overjoyed and furious, overjoyed that her Promised had helped so many and done so much on Illium and furious at Cerberus for deliberately keeping Shepard in the dark about Liara's presence on Illium. All that time lost, all that time they could have been together. Shi'ala went on about Zhu's Hope "the one good thing about the spores is that allowed a better connectivity among those infected, it allowed us to sense each other and that helped us when the Reapers arrived, we were able to cordinate better to fend off the Reapers until we were able to evacuate the whole colony". Another colony evacuated, another lost, the Humans had lost their homeworld as did the Volus, the Elcor and the Batarians, the Turians had more or less lost theirs, the Hanar were hanging on to theirs thanks to Shepard and the fact that the Reapers had yet to mount to a serious offence and the Salarians were hanging onto theirs because theirs were not in the direct invasion path and the Krogan were too stuborn to lose their homeworld. Every race without exception had lost colony worlds, even the Asari and yet the Asari matriarchs were still holding back. Liara lamented "if we survive this, how much is going to be left and how much resentment is there going to be?, Shi'ala answered "I don't know, but survive we will, those bastards have taken far too much for too long, they will be destroyed and destroyed utterly and I will be with you and Shepard all the way"

Liara took another drink and solemnly replied "you know when I first saw her again in that monastery I almost killed her thinking that she had been turned into one of the Reapers creatures, here we were fighting Reaperised Asari, then suddenly we came across this beautiful but mutated creature and the fear and disgust I felt at the Banshees turned to rage, pity and sorrow when I saw this creature. I felt rage at what the Reapers had made of my love, pity for what the creature must be suffering and sorrow in knowing what I must do to end that suffering", "what stopped you?", "the creature spoke, and the fact that my friends held me back, then it started to turn to calm, hope and joy and now it's fear and rage as the one who brought her back to me might be the one to finally rip her apart from me". Shi'ala went to comfort her friend "hey, less of that, Shepard's going to be alright and I am going to witness the happiest bonding in all of Thessia and it wasn't Lawson that tried to take her away, it was the creature she became", "you know, Shi'ala I never felt real love until I met Shona and I never knew what it meant to truly hate until the Reapers"

Shi'ala was concerned for her friend "don't let it consume you, Liara", Liara gave a small smile and replied "don't worry I won't, but it will consume them, I promise". Shi'ala had to know one thing from Liara, "Liara, if the worst happens to Shepard, what then", "if that happens , Shi'ala, then I shall take up her mantle and destroy the Reapers, after that, well let's just say I won't end it, but I won't do anything to stop it either". Shi'ala looked grim as she knew what Liara meant. Liara decided to change subjects "Shi'ala, I believe you met someone yourself on Feros", "yes, a human girl called Alexa, she's the best thing to happen to me in years, so cute, so funny, so very beautiful", "was she one of the colonists?", "no, one of Exo Geni, she was one of the archaeologists studying the Prothean ruins, it's amazing to think how much is left on Feros after so long", "did she make it off Feros?", "yes, I managed to get her evacuated". Liara was happy to hear that as there was enough misery at present and with both her and her friend finding happiness it was a time to celebrate at least that. Liara proposed a toast "to loved ones", Shiala repeated "to loved ones" as they both took another drink. "You know, Liara, other than being at your mother's estate, that colony was the happiest place I'd ever been in, despite the unorthodox way I arrived and the problems it faced", Shiala became melochony as she went on "and both were ruined by the Reapers". Liara had a sly smile about her "Shi'ala we may not be able to fix these residences right now, but we can do something about the baliffs", "what do you mean?", " well you have your Spectre missions for Gellix, Lorek and Trident and I have a list of Shona's N7 missions for Sanctum, Cyone, Noveria and Benning"

The pair discussed the possible missions with Shi'ala discussing her Spectre missions first "there is reports of Cerberus defectors holding up on Gellix, some Asari evacuees to pick up on Lorek, fuck the Batarians and Collector attacks on Trident. Liara then listed the N7 missions "we have Cerberus lab studying Reaper tech on Sanctum, a fuel depot has went quite on Cyone, there's a Cerberus fighter base to be captured on Noveria and Cerberus is attacking civilians on Benning".The pair looked at the options, Shiala started with Lorek "several ships have already evacuated thosands of Asari evacuees and continuing to do so, so it's not a top priority", "what about the Ceberus defectors on Gellix?" asked Liara, "if they defected from Cerberus that must mean they left before the Reaper influence, but I suggest that we keep an eye on them all the same" answered Shi'ala. Liara knew that because they were able to flee it meant that the weren't Reaper creatures like the Phantoms or Assault Troopers, but that didn't mean that they weren't indoctinated, so she had to agree with Shi'ala. The discussion turned to Trident, a human colony ocean world that was being attacked by Collectors, albeit lightly as the Collectors probably had bigger targets and they were no longer the force they once were. Shiala stated "out of the 3 missions, Gellix is perhaps the one we should prioritise", Liara agreed and called to Joker over the com "Jeff, take us to Gellix", Joker replied "aye-aye, you know it feels weird being here and not taking orders from Shepard", "yes, and it feels the same for me without Shepard at the CIC", "er, don't take this the wrong way, Liara, but I hope it keeps feeling weird, because I don't want to get used to this", "I don't either, Jeff", they both hoped for that


	34. Interlude: Union Info - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Info on the Alliance militaries classification of personel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not completely canon

The Alliance military in comparison to the other galactic militaries, in terms of age, would be the baby of the galaxy, however it could never be termed as such in any other capacity and despite it's relatively small size, only 3% of the human population ever joins, it is very powerful with cutting edge technology, adaptive strategies, reliable ordanance and use of varied types of personel, which are divided into 7 main categories, each with it's own N7 division

Each catergory of Alliance personel has their own specialist abilities, these abilities are not unique only to them, but they are specialists in using them

Adepts: These are the Alliance's pure boitic specialists, fitted with L5x biotic implants that allow them cast Singularities, they are usually lightly armed and wear light armour and always use Barriers instead of Shields, their N7 elite are called Furies after the Greek goddesses of justice and vengeance

Specialist Abilities: Singularity, Cluster Grenade, Dark Channel

Engineers: The Alliance's pure tech specialists, they have the ability to create drones and turrets, like the adepts they are also lightly armed and armoured, their N7 elite are called Demolishers

Specialist Abilities: Combat Drone, Turret, Arc Grenade

Explorers: The Alliances all round specialists, proficient in all 3 specialities, but not strong enough in any of them to be a pure or a hybrid, they are fitted standard L5 biotic implants and most use Shields and a few use Barriers, they are moderately armed and armoured, their N7 elite are called Pioneers

Humans are the only race to have Explorer catergory personnel

Specialist Abilities: Barricade, Lance, Invasion

Infiltrators: The Alliance's combat/tech hybrids, specialists in sniper rifles and the Tactical Cloak, they are moderately armed and armoured, their N7 elite are called Shadows

Specialist Abilities: Tactical Cloak, Sticky Grenade, Sabotage

Sentinels: The Alliance's biotic/tech hybrids, fitted with L5b biotic implants that allow them to deploy defensive biotics, they are also field medics, vary between using Shields and Barriers, they are moderately armed and lightly armoured, their N7 elite are called Paladins

Specialist Abilities: Tech Armour, Lift Grenade, Protective Sphere

Soldiers : The Alliance's pure combat specialists, trained in the use of all weapons and ammo types, they are heavly armed and armored, their N7 elite are called Destroyers

Specialist Abilities: Adrenaline Rush, Concusive Shot, Frag Grenade

Vanguards: The Alliance's combat/biotic hybrids, fitted with L5n biotic implants that allow them to preform the Charge, most use Barriers and a few use Shields specialists with shotguns they are well armed and moderately armoured, their N7 elite are called Slayers

Specialist Abilities: Charge, Nova, Carnage

. Proficiency Levels

Proficency Levels are the ratings for Alliance personel in Combat, Biotic, Tech and Melee skills, each one is out of 10 with an overall of 40 between them all and each class needs a combined rate of at least 5 to pass basic training into the intial military pure classifications and at least 7 for the intial military hybrid classifications, Explorers need a rating of at least 2 in 3 different skill sets, to gain entry into N7 training a candidate must have developed their combined skills to rating of at least 9. A combined rating of over 20 is extremely difficult and a combined rating of 40 is totally impossible, no matter the race 

Ratings

10 - Outstanding

9 - Excellent

8 - Mastery

7 - Specialist

6 - Very Good

5 - Good

4 - Fair

3 - Rudimentary

2 - Basic

1 - Poor

A level 0 - Non Existant, only applies in biotic proficiency

. Human Designed Personal Weapons and Manufacturers

. Pistols

Raikou - Ariake

Harpy - Cerberus

Stinger - Devlon

Kessle - Hahne Kedar

Cobra - Hahne Kedar

Razer - Kassa

Karpov - Rosenkov

Pinnacle - Jormangund

Phalanx - Systems Alliance - A favoured sidearm of many military personnel, not just in the Alliance

Suppressor - Systems Alliance - Used mainly by Infiltrators

Talon - Cerberus - Used by Cerberus Guardians

Eagle - Systems Alliance

. SMG

Locust - Kassa

Hurricane - Systems Alliance

Hornet - Cerberus - Used by Cerberus Assault Troopers and Cerberus Dragoons

. Shotguns

Katana - Ariake

Hydra - Cerberus

Firestorm - Devlon

Storm - Hahne Kedar

Viper - Hahne Kedar - Not to be confused with the Rosenkov Viper sniper rifle

Armageddon - Kassa

Sokolov - Rosenkov

Savage - Jormangund

Eviscerator - Cerberus - Used by Krogan

Piranha - Systems Alliance - Automatic shotgun used by the galaxies lighter races

Scimitar - Ariake - Used by Eclipse

Claymore - FRM - Human designed, but originally used only by Krogan as the kickback could break the arm of anyone that wasn't Krogan, newer, more universal useful version was launched

Crusader - Systems Alliance - Perhaps the galaxy's most powerful semi automatic shotgun, also favoured by Asari Huntresses

. Assault Rifles

Tsunami - Ariake

Gorgon - Cerberus

Raptor - Devlon - Not to be confused with the.Ceberus Raptor siper rifle

Lance - Hahne Kedar - Used in the First Contact War, modified versions are collectors items, the Volus Elkoss Combine Avenger is based on it 

Diamond Back - Hahne Kedar

Breaker - Kassa

Kovalyov - Rosenkov

Torrent - Jormangund

Mattock - FRM

Harrier - Cerberus - An upgraded fully automatic version of the Mattock

Falcon - Systems Alliance - A grenade launcher

Valkyrie - Systems Alliance - Favoured by Terminus mercenaries and members of the Salarian STG 

Sabre - Systems Alliance - Should be seen more as a longer distance version of a semi automatic shotgun

Typhoon - Systems Alliance - Because of it's heavy recoil, it is favoured more by Krogan

. Sniper Rifles

Naginata - Ariake

Titan - Cerberus

Striker - Devlon

Avenger - Hahne Kedar - Not to be confused with the Volus designed Avenger assault rifle

Python - Hahne Kedar

Harpoon - Kassa - Not to be confused with Batarian Harpoon sniper rifle

Volkov - Rosenkov

Helix - Jormangund

Mantis - Devlon - A favourite of many Turian snipers

Viper - Rosenkov

Black Widow - Systems Alliance - By far the most powerful automatic sniper rifle available

Raptor - Cerberus - Highly modified version is used by Cerberus Nemesises

Indra - FRM

Valiant - Systems Alliance

. Heavy Weapons

Firestorm - Systems Alliance

Cain - FRM - Takes time to charge and only has one shot, but it is utterly devastating

Avalanche - Cerberus

Arc Projector - Cerberus

Hydra - Systems Alliance

. Armours

Onyx - Aldrin

Hydra - Aldrin

Mercenary - Ariake

Hoplite - Cerberus

Explorer - Devlon

Mantis - Hahne Kedar

Predator - Hahne Kedar

Scorpion - Hahne Kedar

Ursa - Hahne Kedar

Spectre - Hahne Kedar

Janissary - Hahne Kedar

Colossus - Kassa

Titan - Rosenkov

Phoenix - Sirta

Freedom - Cerberus

Liberator - Devlon

Explorer - Devlon

Crisis - Jormangund

Hazard - Jormangund

Blood Dragon - FRM

Kestrel - FRM

Assault - Cerberus

Inferno - Cerberus

Melee - Ariake

Ajax - Cerberus

Nightmare - Cerberus

Shade - Cerberus

Spirit - Cerberus

Collector - Cerberus

Weapon Increase - Hahne Kedar

Shield Increase - Kassa

Melee Increase - Ariake

Power Recharge - Rosenkov

Reckoner - Systems Alliance

Defender - Systems Alliance

N7 - Systems Alliance

Human female armour can be and is also worn by Asari, human manufacturers also make armour for other races and are the only race, besides the Quarians themselves, to manufacture Quarian armour

. Human Manufactured Alien Armours

Hydra - Quarian - Aldrin

Onyx - Quarian, Turian, Krogan - Aldrin

Survivor - Quarian, Turian, Krogan - Devlon

Spectre - Quarian, Turian - Hahne Kedar

Colossus - Quarian, Turian, Krogan - Kassa

Phoenix - Quarian, Turian, Krogan - Sirta

Agent - Turian - Aldrin

Mercenary - Turian, Krogan - Ariake

Hoplite - Turian, Krogan - Cerberus

Thermal - Turian - Devlon

Mantis - Turian, Krogan - Hahne Kedar

Silverback - Turian - Hahne Kedar

Janissary - Turian, Krogan - Hahne Kedar

Hazard - Turian, Krogan - Jormangund

Titan - Turian, Krogan - Rosenkov

.

Omni Tools

Blue Wire - Aldrin

Logic Arrest - Ariake

Polaris - Kassa

Chameleon - Sirta

Bio Amps

Solaris - Aldrin

Polaris - Kassa

Unity - Sirta


	35. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shi'ala leads Vega and Tali on a rescue mission on Gellix

The team landed near a large complex as they heard gunfire being exchanged, Cerberus troops were exchanging fire and were overwhelming the defending scientists. The scientists not being trained soldiers and using basic equippment were no match for their Reaper enhanced opponents, this was a near slaughter and the team had to rush into the action. Tali launched her Combat Drone, who she called Chikkita, as a distraction while Vega used his Carnage abilty to take down some of the Cerberus troops, he intially thought about using a grenade, but the blast could potentially effect the defending scientists. Shi'ala noticed that the Cerberus troops were being aided by Shield Pylons, she turned to Tali "Tali, do you think you can do something about these pylons?", Tali responded with "on it", she used an Overload into the generators, but this left her vunerable to a Guardian that was slowly making his way towards her. Tali quickly whipped out her Arc pistol to fire on the menace, unfortunately it was having next to no effect on the Guardian's large metallic shield. She was beginning to become concerned as her comrades were busy with the other Cerberus troops, who had now lost their advantage, but were still plentiful. She tried to whip out her shotgun when the Guardian fired his Talon at her causing her to finch, dropping her shotgun. The Reaperised hulk was continuing his slow pace towards her when his massive shield was pulled away from him with a shout of "gravity is one mean mother", the Guardian was now nothing more a target, Tali fired her pistol at him putting him to rest. The rest of the team was sweeping up the other Cerberus troops as they approached Tali's position

The team approached the compound entrance when the lone surviving defender staggered out of cover, Vega greeted him "Taylor?", "yeah", "what's going on, man?", "a bunch of scientists ran from Cerberus when they figured out what the Illusive Man was all about, same as me, had to help, by the way where's Shepard?", "er, let's get you fixed up first, compadre". Taylor's com came to life "Jacob are you there?", Taylor answered "yeah, it's me, Brynn, open the door, Cerberus has been taken care off", "right away". Vega and Tali helped Taylor get on his feet as the large hanger doors of the complex opened. Once inside they were met by Brynn Cole who signaled for 2 medics to take Taylor to med-bay, Shi'ala then asked Cole about their situation, Cole answered "we were on teams studying different aspects of different types of tech, not being fully told what we were studying or why, then we started to notice people were disappearing, so we got out as soon as we could and been on the run ever since". It was no secret that a great deal of Cerberus personel were not dyed in the wool racists, but were either there like Cole under the lure of continuing their work with the best possible equippment or they were people who were fed up with the shoddy way that the Citadel Council treated humanity over the last 29 years and thought the Alliance was doing far too little to counteract this imbalance. They were of course the absolute racists like Lang and the Barn Director, who took great delight in torturing alien people simply on the fact that they weren't human, but they weren't enough people like them or in fact enough people in Cerberus in general to account for the vast army that the Illusive Man now commanded, although most people knew that it wasn't him really commanding them. The vast army was in actual fact humans kidnapped from colonies and instillations and Reaperised in a process called Intergration, with the Illusive Man as a puppet figurehead

The team went upstairs and Shi'ala asked "how many people are here?", Cole answered nervously "we have several families here", Shi'ala was stunned "why would you have families here, children?", "we couldn't leave them with Cerberus and we had to take them when we ran". Shi'ala couldn't believe that people would have familes with them in an organisation like Cerberus, but she could understand it, but what she couldn't understand is why people like Cole, who clearly weren't either racist or Reaperised, would join an organisation like Cerberus and she asked Cole "why would you join Cerberus, why would someone like you join such a hate filled organisation?". Cole gave out a long exhale "tell me, you're an Asari, do you enjoy others calling you a squid or your people being called squids?", Shi'ala defiantly answered "no, I do not, because it is inaccurate for one thing". Cole smiled and responded " then you know how we feel when a non human calls us pyjak or monkey, for that is also inaccurate", Cole went on "but it is not just the childish name calling, it's the holier than thou casting down of everything we are by those if they looked more closely at their own races, they might not like what they see, we are called savage and aggressive and to be called that by Turians is to say the least, galling, I am not saying that humanity doesn't have it's faults in that department, God knows, it does, but looking closer at their history doesn't put them in a good position to call us out for it and they are other issues like the Council more or less demanding, not suggesting, that we colonise the Traverse and do nothing when our colonies come under attack, and many humans hate the Citadel Council for things they've done to other races like the Quarians and the Krogan and wonder what they might of had planned for us". Shi'ala had to react to this "the Quarians were punished for unleashing the Geth", "maybe so, but do they deserve to be kept on being punished?, they are considered outcasts, they lost any position in galactic society and they are reduced to hopeless wanderers with a total population less than what we have in some of our major cities and all for the idiocy for a few long dead cretins". Cole knew that this was not the time to debate such issues "anyway, we have work to do and I wish not to risk losing support from those who came to our aid"

Cole told the team about the defensive guns being offline and the need to fix the satellite telemetry before bringing the guns back online, they were about the go to the rooftop area when Taylor called them into med-bay, he wanted to know about Shepard "hey guys, what's happen to Shepard, she isn't dead, is she?". The team started to look away, Taylor started to feel terrible "oh, no...", Tali interrupted him "no, she's not dead, but....", Taylor started to panic "but, what?", Tali went on "she was attacked by a Provocateur and infected with Reaper nanites, we had to put her in a deep medical stasis before the conversion process could take hold", "oh, no, oh, fuck, no" , Tali voice went down as she told Taylor "there is something else you should know", Taylor looked at with fear, but also a need to know, Tali went on "the Provocateur that attacked her was once Miranda Lawson". Taylor's world just caved in as he realised what happened "please" he begged "please tell me you put her out of her misery", Tali felt crestfallen "I am sorry, we had to get Shepard away". Taylor could feel rage building inside, but he kept calm as he told the team that he would monitor things from the complex

The team made it to the rooftop area and were able to ambush a small Cerberus team before they could react, however this alerted the other Cerberus troops, but for now it was a only a small fight and the team was quickly able to activate the satelite. The joyrney to the guns, however would not be so easy. Cerberus shuttles were dropping off Assault Troopers and Centurions that were being assisted by shield pylons and a trooper manning a gun implacement firing heavy rounds on the team. Shi'ala roared "keep to cover", the team had to dart from cover to cover as the suppressive fire left them without much options. Tali tried to find the pylon generators, but she was also being kept down, Vega got tried of being pinned down and threw a Frag Grenade at a group of Assault Troopers ending their misery, unfortunately this alerted the gunner to his position and he had to hug close tight to stay out of the line of fire. The break in the Cerberus defence gave Tali an oppurtunity to take down one of the pylon genarators, which she quickly did, Shi'ala followed up by blasting several nearby Cerberus troops with her Tempest SMG, this still left the other troopers, another generator and the gunner

Vega helped Tali to move from cover to cover while Shi'ala took the focus from the gunner by manuevering the troopers into such positions that gunner could fire without hitting it's own troops. Tali managed to disable the last generator and the shield pylons were disabled, Vega and Tali changed their focus to the remaining troopers, while Shi'ala used a Lash to yank the gunner away from the gun implacement. The team made it to the upper roof where the AA guns were, the first power supply was turned on easily enough, but the second needed some repair, Shi'ala ordered "Tali, make the repair, Vega get on the gun". Vega got on the gun and before long a series of Cerberus shuttles took turns to drop off troops, the vast majority of which were put down the moment they dropped off their shuttles, but a couple of Phantoms made it through. The idiotic dropping of troops by Cerberus near to a heavy gun in plain sight was further proof that they were no longer thinking for themselves, because no on field commander would ever do anything that stupid if there were. One of the Phantoms was blasted as soon as she got up to the upper roof, leaving Shi'ala to handle the other that managed to get through

The Phantom was quick, but predictable, it was obvious that she was nothing more than a glorified drone making strange unnatural noises and a trained Asari commando like Shi'ala had little trouble dispatching the unfortunate girl, Tali fxed the AA guns which started shot Cerberus Mantis gunships out of the sky. Shi'ala went back into the compound ordered the evacuation, when one of the AA guns was taken out by a Mantis colliding into it with a couple of Assault Troopers bursting in, but they were quiclkly taken out. The team went to the hanger door entrance and where met by a group of Cerberus troops with more being dropped in by shuttle. Tali released her drone, "go, get them, Chikkita", Shiala flung out a Singularity capturing several in it while Vega used his Typhoon to cut many of them down. Once the last trooper was put down an Atlas dropped in, Tali disabled it's Shields with an Overload and disabled it's functions with A sabotage while Shi'ala and Vega took it apart. Once that was done and the last evacuation shuttle was away Taylor came over the com, "I'll meet you at the landing area, this place is crawling". The team managed to get onto the shuttle just as a swarm of Cerberus troops came running out of the complex. Brynn Cole told Shi'ala about the wish to work on the Crucible, which was acknowledged


	36. Reactor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fuel station on Cyone has went dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiamna: Guardian of Temples, elite bodyguard of an Asari matriarch

Shiala reported to Liara about the events on Gellix, "we came across Jacob Taylor defending a group of scientists that had defected from Cerberus, the Illusive Man must have sent a whole regiment after them, we took out dozens of them, but they almost swamped us as we left", "goddess, why would the Illusive Man go to such lengths?", "I don't know, but one of them, Cole, nentioned that teams were working piecemeal on different projects, especially on tech taken from the Collecter base". Liara took stock of what Shi'ala had said and told Shi'ala "that's probably how they are able to implant so many with Reaper tech and those scientists even if they're only working piecemeal would soon realise that and that's why Illusive Man had many of them eliminated before the others had a chance to flee, oh, siame, why didn't you blow that awful Collector place up?". Shi'ala tried to soothe her friend "maybe because she thought the tech there could somehow help", "but it didn't, Shi'ala, it was used to make even more Reaper creatures and is probably what indoctrinated the Cerberus leadership", "but at least you found her, Liara, and brought her back to us". Liara started to go misty eyed "and now I might lose her again", "no, you won't, Liara, she'll be once again be back at our side", "I hope so, Shi'ala, but I promise you this, if she does not, by Athame's light, I will spend every ounce of my strength turning the Reapers into scrap and goo"

Liara and Shi'ala then discussed their next target, a fuel station vital to the war effort in Outer Council Space. The station was on Cyone, an Asari world that came under attack during the Krogan Rebellions but held strong and now it was the main fueling resource for the entire sector. Liara told Shi'ala "get Garrus, I'll be coming with you", "are you sure, Liara", "Shi'ala, if I stay here, tides are, I'll go insane". Liara went to change into armour, she put on Shepard's standard N7 armour, if she couldn't touch her lover, then she'll touch the closest thing to her, and she armed her self with Shepard's Eagle pistol, Disciple shotgun and Locust SMG, Liara didn't have the weight distribution versus ability to recharge weakness that plagued Shepard, although she had less endurance. Shiala wore her standard Tiamna Huntress armour, the kind worn by Asari Huntresses who protected Thessia's most important Matriarchs, it was a combination of figure hugging hard leather with hardened ceramic plating that allowed for adequate protection and swift nimble movement, Shi'ala was Benezia's tiamna until for over a century until the events of Feros

The Normandy soon arrived at Cyone and the team departed for the fuel station, which beside for a few Turians and Humans was utterly deserted, the team was greet by a Turian soldier who pointed them in the direction of Captain Lee Riley, a friend of Shepard's from N7 training. Riley had gotten the brief of what happened to Shepard and greeted Liara "Dr.T'Soni, it's a pleasure having you here, anyone who could bring Shona such happiness is a friend of mine, I just wished it was under better circumstances", Liara simply replied as do I, and I thank you". Riley got them access to the crane controls and told them "you need to get access to the ventilation controls to clear out the radiation", "on it" Shi'ala replied. Garrus commented "they were over a 100 turians stationed here, now nothing", Liara responded "I am glad that there aren't any bodies", "Liara, you know what Reapers do to bodies", "we don't know if Reapers were involved, Garrus", "maybe not, but they didn't just vanish". Shi'ala soon got access to the ventilation control and ventalated the reactor control area, making it safe for the team to access

Shi'ala was about to activate one of the core systems when Liara noticed a Reaper barrier engine "Shi'ala, stop, lets take apart these Reaper devices first", the team searched the reactor area for more of the devices, destroying each one in turn. Shi'ala returned to the system control and activated it and like a moth to the flame, it attracted Reaper creatures to the area. Luckly most of them were Husks with a couple of Marauders, easily dispatched by the team. The Husks were a cruel reminder of the pure evil of the Reapers, not only did they mutate the body, but it made a mockery of what was to be a human, turning it from an adaptive creature of reason to something that had only one strategy, attack dog style melee attack and had only one purpose, to be a bullet sponge. Liara knew that this was far from the only type of creature that the Reapers made from humans, in one way or another and she also knew of the creatures made from other races including her own that were cruel mockeries of what they once were, but the other races were limited to mostly to just one type of creature, humans were being turned into a whole catalogue of them. Liara had nightmare visions of her siame not being able to be saved from being converted into a Provocateur and somehow escaping from the facility that contained her with Liara being the one that had to bring her to rest. The thought of this enraged Liara and vowed that if she could, the unfortunate Reaper creatures would be put to rest quickly and with mercy, but as for the Reapers themselves, they would not have these luxuries, they would beg for their release, and would not be granted until Liara was satisfied and that type of satisfaction would take a long time to achieve

The system VI pinged a warning "coolant tanks overheating", the team went to fix the 2 overheating tanks and were told by one of the reactor personel that the coolant system was ready to be reactivated. Shi'ala activated the system when she heard Riley come over the com "just picked up a lot of movement headed towards you, get ready", Shi'ala spoke to the team "let's send these unfortunates to Athame's embrace", the second wave of Reaper creatures had far more Marauders than the first, which made it more of a problem. Garrus used his Overload to disabled the shields of the Marauders that were dropping down from the rafters and laid down a Proximity Mine to handle the Husks, "Liara used a Singularity to entrap many of the creatures while Shi'ala detonated it with a Warp. The team used their weaponry to obliterate the remaining Mauraders when Riley came over the com "we're getting swarmed, we're not gonna make it", Liara replied "I am sending Garrus to you", Garrus ran off to help the beleagured defenders. Shi'ala and Liara faced of against the last of the attackers at the reactor area, a Brute and a small group of Mauraders. The Brute was about to charge at them when Shi'ala realised a Dark Channel which Liara followed up with a Warp causing the beast to collapse after the biotic explosion, Liarq used her Stasis Field to hold 2 of the Marauders in place whilel she and Shi'ala finished the rest of them before finishing them off. When it was all over Captain Riley thanked them all and Joker came over the com telling Liara Admiral Anderson wanted to address her


	37. Configuration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard comes back to the Normandy free of the danger of conversion, but she is not completely the same

Liara went to the Normandy Q.E.C to talk to Admiral Anderson, she greeted Anderson "Admiral, Joker said you wanted to see me", Anderson gave an upset, but friendly expression "Liara, I am only going to tell you this once, knock the admiral shit off, it's David or Anderson to you", Liara gave a light laugh "alright, David". Anderson gave a light smile "that's better, I need you to come back to the Rosetta Nebula to pick up someone", "who?" Liara enquired, Anderson gave bright smile "someone dear to both of us", Liara almost choked in joy "you don't mean?", "yes, Shepard is coming back to you, she been cleared from any danger of conversion, however they are a few complications". Liara's joy almost turned to fear "what do you mean, complications?", Anderson looked slightly worried but still joyed "the doctors were able to stop the conversion process completely, however not entirely, she has some physical transformation", Liara almost panicked "wha, wha , what do you mean?", Anderson replied "well let's just say she'll be able to pick up a gun, but not make a fist and also when she comes back on board she'll not be taking back command, she still has to recover". Liara was somewhat confused "why not keep her at the institute", Anderson gave a serious look "they were some at the institute that were getting a little too interested in her cybernetic upgrades", Liara knew exactly what that meant, Anderson continued "I'll meet you at the Rosetta Nebula, Anderson out"

The Normandy met the Matterhorn at the Rosetta Nebula and Anderson told them to prepare for a shuttle arrival, Liara, Shi'ala and Dr. Chakwas went down to the docking bay to await the arrival. The shuttle docked and 2 men came out guiding a grav-bed containing Shepard, who looked at Liara and joyfully shouted "saff, come here, I've missed you", Liara ran up and then suddenly stopped, something was very wrong, Shepard still had the same complextion, scars and red electronic eyes as before, but they were some unwelcome changes, the white of her eyes were now black and her fingers were now elongated with the nails, although still somewhat human, that were now looking like lethal looking hardened talons. One of the orderlies handed a package to Dr. Chakwas, it was sets of specialised gloves for Shepard to wear, Chakwas ordered "get her into med-bay", the orderlies took Shepard up to med-bay, Chakwas turned to Liara, who was slightly shaking and be consoled by Shi'ala. Chakwas with concern asked Liara "Liara, what's wrong?", Liara trying to calm her nerves before replying "how much?", Chakwas was confused "how much what, Liara?", Liara still trying to calm down "how much is left of her?". Chakwas was now getting worried for Liara "Liara, despite what has happened to her physically, it's still Shepard, it's still Shona", Liara was now slightly frustrated "oh please, doctor, spare me, don't tell me you look at her and see nothing wrong, I know you don't share the link with us, but still, what you see must make you think". Chakwas kindly answered "Liara, of course it does, but I still know within myself it's still her, what do you feel in the link?" Liara with some sadness answered "it's my Promised come back to me, but yet she is not fully if she is sure she has come back herself". Shi'ala gently kept a grip on Liara as Chakwas told Shi'ala "take care of her while I check Shepard"

Chakwas went to the med-bay to check over Shepard while Liara and Shi'ala waited at one of the tables in the mess hall. Shi'ala in an attempt to comfort Liara told her "Liara, I sure nothing else is going to go wrong, I am sure we're over the worst of it", Liara was slightly incredulous "over the worst of it?, have you seen her?, they're going to treat her like a monster". Shi'ala was slightly taken aback "hey Liara, I don't think it will be that bad", "won't be that bad?, Shiala, her eyes are no longer in any way look human or Asari, she has parlour skin unlike any other human, glowing cybernetic scars all over her face, her fingers have been extended by at least 7 inches and her nails can no longer be called nails, they are more like talons, I don't know if they can tear armour, but it's obvious they can tear flesh to shreds and I don't just mean human or Asari either". Shi'ala considered this "but I am sure she wouldn't harm you, Liara, you mean the world to her", "maybe not deliberately , Shi'ala, but she could without realising it in a moment of passion". Doctor Chakwas beckoned them to come into the med-bay, Chakwas spoke to Liara "good news, Liara, there is no trace what so ever of Reaper nanites being any longer in Shepard's body, however I believe that someone has be tampering with her body to produce those talons". Liara was curious "could they just be a side effect of her treatment", "perhaps, but take a look at this", Chakwas led the 2 Asari over to a display, "take a look at his, these are nanites found in most of Shepards body and these are ones found only in her hands, notice any difference?". The 2 Asari looked carefully and Shi'ala exclaimed "they're larger, giving out more information", "exactly" Chakwas replied "and they weren't there before, which leads me to my conclusions and know I want to show you a demonstration". Chakwas brought out the torso piece of a set of Kassa Fabrication Colossus Heavy Armour, "Shepard, if you will", Shepard sighed sadly, and with her nails started to puncture holes through the armour, then she began to tear it apart, not exactly like paper, but still rendering it asunder.

Liara looked on horrified and turned to Shi'ala "and you still think they won't see her as a monster?", Shi'ala was now becoming very concerned for Liara's safety as Liara told her "take this armour piece to Garrus and tell him what happened", "are you sure, Liara?", "yes, Shona won't harm me", Shepard interrupted "no, I will not, I could never harm her, just a pity I can't touch her again". Shepard looked forelorn at the thought, she wanted to be with Liara again, to touch her again, but how could she when her slightest touch could rip her Promised apart. Liara asked Shepard what she remembered about the facility, Shepard answered "not very much, I was in stasis most of the time", Chakwas then asked if she could remember any of the personel and again the same answer. Liara turned to Chakwas "is there anything we can do about her nails?", Chakwas answered "no, they are now much tougher than before and with the nanites they'll just grow again even if we can cut them, the only real hope is to decodify these new nanites and we can't do that without finding out who was at that facility"

Shi'ala took the ruined armour to Garrus in the main battery and showed it to him, Garrus took a scrutinising look at the armour and asked "what caused this?", Shi'ala, rather worriedly replied "Shepard", "oh, trying out some new omni-blade, was she?", "er, no", "then testing out a new bladed weapon then?", "no". Garrus was somewhat confused "then what then?", Shi'ala replied "her finger nails". Garrus burst out laughing "come on, Shi'ala, human nails are brittle, there's no way they could have caused this, even Turian talons wouldn't have been able to do this to this type of armour, so what was it really?", Shi'ala looked withdrawn "it really was her nails, the facility cured her, but she's been changed", "how so?", "I think you need to see for yourself". The 2 left the battery and went to the med-bay as he went in he said "hey, Shepard, how's.......SPIRITS", he looked at Shepard open mouthed, mandibles wide in shock, he then saw Liara looking sorrowful "Liara, what's happened to her?", Liara with some intrepretation answered "they removed all the Reaper nanites from her, but we think that someone has been tampering with her own nanites". Garrus then asked Shepard "do you know of anyone who could have done this?", she replied "as I told Liara and Karin, I was in stasis most of the time, so I don't have a fair idea who was there", he then turned back to Liara "do you have any clue?", "no, but we're meeting Admiral Shepard at the Citadel to hopefully get some information on who was there", "will Shepard be fit to go to the Citadel?", Chakwas answered "she won't be back to duty for a while, but she'll be fit to be up and about by the time we get to the Citadel"


	38. Cutting Remark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard visits the Citadel and an incident with al Jilani causes some to question Shepard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bint: Scottish slang for a disreputable woman

When the Normandy arrived back at the Citadel, Shepard along with Liara and Shi'ala were summoned to Tevos office where Admiral Shepard was waiting for her daughter. The trio arrived at the office and Admiral Shepard was about to greet them with a hug as they were about to come in, but Liara told her "you may want to wait on that", the admiral was puzzled "why would I want to wait to give my daughter a hug after recovery, I mean I know there's been some changes, David's told me". Liara was full of angst as she replied "has he told you what?", "no, only there's been changes in her appearance, but that's to be expected, everyones appearance changes somewhat after a major trauma", "Hannah, it's a lot more than that, I am afraid", "what do you mean, Liara?", Liara turned to the hallway "Shi'ala, you better bring Shona in here. Admiral Shepard waited for her daughter to arrive and gasped with fright at the sight of what her daughter had become, Council Tevos was almost lost for words "by the goddess", the air almost went out of the room

Admiral Shepard looked at the black and red eyes, elongated fingers and hideous talons on her daughter and asked with fear "what happened?", Liara answered "the facility was able to get rid of the Reaper nanites, but Dr. Chakwas believes someone has tampered with some of Shona's nanites". Admiral Shepard's fear turned to anger "if I find out who, I'll be tampering with their freedom of movement, who could do this?", Shona answered "I would like to know, mum, but I was in stasis most of the time". The admiral almost broke down "my baby, come here, let me hold you", Shona had to refuse "mum, I can't, if I hold you in return I could tear the flesh from your body", the admiral looked shocked what do you mean, Shona?", Liara answered for her "she can tear through heavy armour with her nails, someone, we think, has been using her as a science experiment". Tevos was curious and called for her commando bodyguards to bring in a spare set of huntress armour, huntress armour was lightweight, but tough to allow for fluid movement. The councilor requested "Spectre Shepard, if you will", Shepard looked at her mother who replied "please, honey", Shepard gave a sad look and then demonstrated on the armour. The armour was torn to pieces as if it was tissue paper, the commando's who brought in were so shocked that they almost reached for their weapons before Tevos waved them down, Shepard turned to her mother, almost sobbing "now you know why I couldn't let you near me, I can no longer touch the one's I love, those bastards turned me into a monster", by now she had fully broken down

Liara tried to comfort her through the link [siame, someone as kind as you could never be a monster, the only monsters are the ones who did this to you and we will find them and make them reverse it, I swear to you], [thanks, Liara, you will always be my strength when I fall], [you're welcome, siame]. Tevos quietly asked Liara "can you and Shi'ala take Spectre Shepard back while Admiral Shepard and I make some investigations?", Liara quitely replied "we will, and I will be making my own investigation, they'll pay for what they've done". The 2 Asari helped Shepard out of the office and along the hallway, there almost at the lift when they were accousted by their favourite gutter press journalist with her camera drone ever in play. She approached the trio "Khalisah bint al Julani, Westerlund News", Shi'ala couldn't resist "it's appropriate that one of your names is bint, because that is exactly what you are", Liara gave a silent laugh, both of them knowing something of Scottish slang through Shepard, al Julani was not pleased "hmph" she answered Shi'ala's remark and then turned to Shepard "Commander Shepard, I am sure our viewers would like to know what you were up to for the last 3 years", Shepard answered for 2 of them I was in a deep coma and the last year I was saving human colonies in the Terminus from the Collectors". Julani continued "that's all well and good, but didn't you join with a known terrorist group to help you on your mission?", Shepard answered "I didn't exactly join, I was revived by them and given resources for the mission, I used them and broke ties after we defeated the Collectors", "but, commander, you didn't exactly coming rushing back to the Alliance afterwards", "and what was I supposed to do, come back after 3 years without contact and go ta-da?". Julani decided to change tact "there are some saying by your appearance that you are no longer who you once were, that you are now either a Reaper creature or the Illusive Man's puppet", "al Julani, being a puppet of the Illusive Man and a Reaper Creature is one and the same thing and I am neither, look at what I did on Tuchanka or how I stopped the Cerberus coup on the Citadel as proof", "but you might be just playing double agent by playing against their smaller interests now to play for their greater interests later". Shepard momentary for got herself and gave al Julani a wave of dismissal, which caught her face, al Julani screamed in sudden and absolute terror and pain as her face was sliced open. Shepard suddenly realised what she did and recoiled while the 2 asari tried to help the badly injured reporter who was collapsed on her knees and bleeding heavily on the floor. Before long paramedics arrived along with C-Sec officers, the paramedics to take al Julani to medical care and the officers to take Shepard into custody. Before she lost consciousness, al Julani called out to the officers "put that monster down before it runs wild through the Citadel, it's no longer human", the officers not wanting to risk putting omni-cuffs on Shepard marched her at gun point into custody

Shepard could have easily used her Spectre status to take authority away from the officer and to extrodite herself from the situation, but she thought that at his junction that this was not prudent. She was taken to the C-Sec office where she was met with Commander Bailey, Bailey informed Tevos and Osabo, the new human councilor of the situation and they both informed him to hold Shepard until they could discreetly get her back on the Normandy. Shepard was still shaken by what happened, yes sure, she had punched out idiots like al Julani on air before, but never had a wave of dismissal from her had caused such a serious injury before, the thought that could have been her beloved made her sick, thought of Liara being in a pile of her own purple blood made Shepard shudder and she requested Bailey to lock her away, but Bailey told her "I am sorry, Shepard, no can do, I've got my orders from the council", Sheppard begged "please, Bailey, you have to do something before I do anymore damage", Bailey looked at her with pity, here was Commander Shepard, the Survivor of Akuze, the Punisher of Perun's Bolt, the Saviour of the Citadel and the Conqueror of the Collectors almost broken over an accident involving one of the most annoying women in the galaxy, a woman who had become somewhat of a walking joke as a hack journalist pandering to the lowest common denominator, but in this incident the joke had become the sympathetic victim of a sick experiment in the form of a highly modified Commander Shepard and the extranet went into overdrive highlighting the incident

"Hello, I am Diana Allers on the Battle Space for Alliance News Network, tonight, has cybernetic experimentation gone too far?, we look at Commander Shepard and the upgrades and implants she has in her body and ask when is it far enough?, we ask the leading cybernetic doctorate of the University of Serrice, Professor Unea T'Reivin". The camera turns to show an Asari in her late matron stage and Allers greets her "welcome, professor", the honour is mine, Ms. Allers"

A; "Professor, we have all seen what happened with al Julani when she tried to interview Commander Shepard yesterday, face slashed so badly that she'll need major corrective surgery, is this the type of person that should be a leader in our war with the Reapers?"

T: "the first thing you have to ask ourselves is, are we still dealing with an actual person anymore or are we dealing with a cybernetic recreation?"

A: "what do you mean?"

T: "Ms. Allers as you are aware cybernetics can replicate the functions of major body parts, allowing people who would have major disabilities to function normally in society, but also they can be used to fire neurons in the brain, that control memory and personality"

A: "Professor, don't the Reapers use cybernetic technology in their creatures?, and they are just feral beings with no real personality"

T: "yes, Ms Allers, but they are created with only one function, to kill or capture sapient beings, no need for personality, but when it comes to leadership, personality is needed"

A: "personality?"

T: "yes, when Cerberus suppossedly brought Commander Shepard back to lead the fight against the Collectors, they needed not only the physical symbol of what she was, they also needed the personal symbol, after all what use would there be in having merely a remote controlled empty shell? So they would have used implants to fire up the neurons responsible for memory and a program within the implants would have kept the personality viable, at least that's the theory"

A: "so let me get this right, so what you are saying is that the person we think of as Commander Shepard is nothing more than perhaps a V.I/A.I hybrid getting it's information from memories stored in Commander Shepard's brain?"

T: "there is a little more to it than that, but, yes, that's the theory at least"

Matriarch Aethyta was watching this claptrap "that's the theory, huh?, why don't you give a theory as to why you haven't lectured at Serrice for at least 20 years? Implants firing up neurons indeed, my Little Wing wouldn't be fooled by some computer program pretending to be Shepard, you arse"

A: "but, Professor, the talk of the social calendar is the upcoming nuptials between Commander Shepard and Dr. Liara T'Soni and it is now known that there is a deep bond between them, would Dr. T'Soni not notice that it wasn't really Commander Shepard?"

T: "what you have to remember is that Dr. T'Soni is in her early maiden stage and deep bonds can be dangerous for Asari that young, she might be projecting what she wishes rather than facing the reality of the truth"

Liara was aghast "facing the reality? You can't fool the Soul Merge, even if you wish to do so, especially if one of the partners is non Asari"

A: "do you have any proof to back up your theories?"

T: "yes, I want to display these"

The camera shows diagrams showing the inner workings of Shepard's body

T: "as you can see Commander Shepard has had major cybernetic implantation"

A: "can you tell us how much?"

T: "in excess of 45% of her body is now cybernetic, far above the legal limit"

Admiral Hackett was furious when he saw this and called Alliance Intelligence "find out how she managed to get hold of Shepard's data and find the source of the leek"

A: "I'm sure our viewers would like to know how you managed to obtain this information"

T: "I am not at liberty to say, Ms. Allers, but I can tell you that the Alliance admirality pulled her out of a specialist medical facility before any real study could be made"

A: "so you are saying that the members of the admirality are trying a cover up?"

T: "I am refering nothing, Ms Allers, but lets look at 2 of the implants in Commander Shepard's body, to be pacific, the ones attached to her brain"

The camera takes a close up of the diagram of Shepard's brain, which highlights the 2 implants

A: "I have never seen anything like these, can you give us some insight"

T: "not too much beyond simple theory, I am afraid, Ms Allers, but it is believed that the implants are some type of personality recreator and control device"

A: "control devices, you mean like what the Batarians used to use in their slaves?"

T: "hardly, Ms Allers, Batarian control chips were merely punishment devices implanted into a victims cranium and had the ability to keep them docile, these would be of a far greater magnitude"

Liara by this point was beyond incensed "that bitch, is calling my siame a remote controlled puppet", Shi'ala tried to calm Liara "Liara, no one who has been close to Shepard would actually believe this nonsense". Liara could not be calmed "that's just it, Shi'ala, most of them aren't close to her and the amount of rubbish a lot of people will believe is staggering, this could end up causing her to lose a lot of support and therefore lose a lot of support for the war effort"

A: "how much greater?"

T: "theoretically, it could possible give someone outside control of a physical body and with a possible personality recreator, no one would know the difference"

A: "any theories on who would be controlling her?

T: "when she was with Cerberus it would not be unreasonable to predict that it was Miranda Lawson and then when she was brought back under the Alliance, either admirals Anderson or Hackett or even Dr. T'Soni herself"

A: "Dr. T'Soni?"

T: "yes, consider that not only has she in a manner of speaking regained her lost bondmate, but she became the XO and is now the CO of perhaps by far the most important vessel in the entire war effort and this is someone who has no formal military training"

Liara was by now completely enraged "no formal military training?, I trained with my mothers commandoes, I was on the mission to stop Saren, I was on the mission that led to me being reunited with Shona and I was on the mission that stopped the Cerberus coup, I have had more military experience in the last 4 years than she's probably had in the last 400, Shi'ala see if you can get me Admiral Hackett". Shi'ala informed Liara that Hackett and Tevos wanted to hold a conference with her, She went to the communication screen "are you both watching this claptrap?", they both confirmed that they were and Hackett told Liara "I don't know where this Asari is getting her information, but believe me I'll find out", Tevos then said "this broadcast has started to cause a lot of problems on the extranet, many are still in support for Spectre Shepard, but many are now being to react negatively", Liara was becoming anxious "you mean they are turning against her?", Tevos replied "no, not so much against her, but against the Alliance, the Council and I have to say against you", "what are they saying?", "are you sure you really want to know, Dr. T'Soni?", "yes, councilor, I have to know". Tevos sent a copy of some of the comments posted online

"they tore her from the embrace of the goddess"

"Commander Shepard, every blue whore's favourite fuck doll, now with mechnical moving parts - NO LESS"

"now we know why she helped cure the Genophage, she's now just as mindless as those brutes"

"what can you expect from an Ardat like T'Soni?"

They were other such comments displayed and Tevos stated "we have to stop this interview, but Hackett said "no, it will only give credence to what she's telling Allers", Tevos was a little taken back "we can't do nothing?", "oh, don't worry councilor, we tend to be speaking with Ms. Allers after this interview, Liara I suggest that you get back on the Normandy before this interview ends, it may turn ugly". Liara was becoming concerned "what about Shona?", Tevos answered "we'll get a C-Sec unit to escort her back on the Normandy, she'll be joining you soon". The extranet interview continued on as Liara and Shi'ala made their way back to the Normandy, Tevos made a call to Bailey "Commander Bailey is Spectre Shepard still with you?", Bailey replied "yes, she's still here, she's been instisting that we lock her up", "commander, you're not suggesting we follow through with her plan?", "no, councilor, I have managed to convince her somewhat that might be a bad idea", "yes, with our taking custody of her it might be seen as us giving credence to what Professor T'Reivin is saying about her being an out of control experiment that needs to be locked away", "how do you plan to get Shepard back on ship?", "I have sent a specialist team to escort her from C-Sec to the Normandy and I want you to co-ordinate it", "yes, councilor"


	39. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The effects of the T'Reivin interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ceart-leth: Scots Gaelic for true half or soulmate or basically bondmate

Shepard was escorted back onto the Normandy where she was greeted by Liara "siame, are you alright?", Shepard looked dejected "how can I be, Liara?, everything that I am was questioned in that train wreck", "siame, not everyone will believe what was being said by T'Reivin", "no, but enough will and at a time like this that's a major problem". Normally what T'Reivin claimed would be dismissed as nonsense, but with the galactic panic caused by the Reaper War, people were becoming less dismissive of wild claims and Shepard now looking the way she did with her enlongated razor nails was not exactly easing peoples apprehension. Shepard also had to worry about who could have leaked her diagrams to T'Reivin and the implcations they could bring to herself and Liara. She asked Liara if she been in contact with Hackett about it and Liara replied "yes, and I have also been able to do my own investigation and I have uncovered 2 names that were there when you were at that facility", "who are they, Liara?", "Temenous Ronos and Vernia T'Powla, both of who lost family to the Reapers recently before you got injured", "there have been a lot of people who have lost family thanks to those bastard things", "yes, but T'Powla has a connection to T'Reivin, they were both in the cybernetics division of Serrice University", "have you informed Hackett of this?", "yes, Shona", "thanks, ceart-leth", "you're welcome, siame"

Shepard went to her cabin to rest, she still had to recover from being removed far too soon from the facility that prevented her conversion, but events of which she was not privy to at the time prevented her from staying at the facility until she fully recovered, The medical scientists there were given access to study Shepards implants and nanites, but only as so far as to prevent her becoming a Provocateur, but some of them want to study them for other reasons and not necessarily with Shepard's best interest in mind, so it was decided to put her back to the relative safety of the Normandy. Shepard decided to check on her messages, some where supportive and others were mixed

"I don't care what that Salarian scribbled, no one that gives hope to a people left to suffer like ours was could be mindless" - Eve

"You gave justice to my daughter and gave me comfort, you're no mere construct" - Diana

"Are we that desperate in our fight against the Reapers that we must lower ourselves to their tactics?" - Name withheld

"You were taking from the goddess for a purpose, but those who took are cursed" - Name withheld

Shepard decided to contact Admiral Hackett in the hopes that something came up in the investigation, "admiral, I am sorry to disturb you, but I want to know have you managed to turn up anything?", "not much, Shepard, we know that T'Reivin had a colleague at Serrice University that was at the facility you were sent to, but all indications are that they had a nasty fallout a few years ago", "so we're still at square one", "yeah, I am sorry Shepard, but we're still investigating and the council has ordered the Normandy to Trident to combat the Collectors there, you role for now is to be an advisor", "I understand, thanks, admiral", "hmm, Hackett out". Shepard after getting a few hours rest decided to hold a conference with Liara, Shi'ala and Vega over events on Trident. Trident was a human colony world in the Hades Nexus in the Attican Traverse, it was one of many ocean worlds controlled by humans, which was seen as ironic by many considering that humanity was a land based species, but then again Earth itself was an ocean world and the vast majority of humans lived at waterside areas as well as the fact the humans did have some aquatic ancestry, albeit far more distant than that of the Salarians or Asari.

Shepard called the conference in the war room, "Shi'ala, as because as far as I know you've never gone up against the Collectors and Liara, you fought them with me on Uttukku, but we only fought Collector troops and not their other forces", Liara having seeing them through the link shuddered. Shi'ala asked Liara "what's wrong?", Liara shaking replied "I have seen through Shona's memories what she is referring to and believe me they're horrorifying", Vega piped in "yeah, real crazy bad stuff, you better take heavy weapons". Shepard used the war room table display to Shi'ala "first of all we have the Abomination, at first nothing more than a fiery Husk that causes a small explosion when it's destroyed, but watch when it's upgraded", the explosion it caused was massive causing Shi'ala to exclaim "goddess", Shepard instructed "when you see one glowing yellow get it away from you". The next creature on display was the Scion "these things were essentially human with one being the central frame and bio-matter from others being molded on, on the arms is essentially a cannon that fires a pulse that only knocks down your shields, but stops them regenerating until the effect wears off, they are also armed with cluster grenades and can perform a cryo-shockwave". The last one to be displayed got Vega all tensed up as Shepard continued her debriefing "this is a Praetorian, they are constructs made up of several humans encased within them", Vega commented "yeah, they made one out of one of my team on Fehl Prime nearly took out my whole squad, I owe those bastards", Shepard continued "those things are armed wiyh dual plasma beams that will tear through you in seconds and it has a Death Choir splash attack, if one appears get as far from it as you can and get to cover"

Shepard closed off the conference by stating "Trident may be one of our less disirable worlds, considering the amount of scum that lives there, but it also the home of many innocent families, not just human, but Hanar and Asari as well, we must not fail them, I know I am not in charge and it's your call, Liara, but I think Vega and Ashley should accompany Shi'ala", Liara gently replied "only temporarily, but I think that's an excellent suggestion, Mr Vega, are you up for it?", Vega furiously answered "against Collectors?, damn right I am", "then inform Ashley of the mission and get ready", Shepard then turned to Shi'ala "Shi'ala I want you to take this", Shepard presented Shi'ala with a strange looking weapon. Shi'ala was curious "what is it?", Shepard answered "it's a Collector Beam Weapon, I got it when fighting the Collectors on Horizon, the Alliance took to study for a while, but I was given it back as you can see", "how does it work?", "pull the trigger and it fires", "er, that's not what I meant", "oh right, well to be honest I am not quite sure, even the Alliance techs are unsure". Shi 'ala was disconcerted "that's not exactly comforting", Shepard smiled and replied "it will be when you see it working, anyway I have to give Vega and Ashley their toys" Shepard went to the armoury to present Ashley and Vega with 2 new heavy weapons she kept locked in special storage, Ashley asked "what are those, Commander" as she looked at the new weapons, Shepard answered "these are 2 of the heavy weapons I got from Cerberus and this first one, Ashley is the Arc Projector, it fires electrical charges that arc from target to target, pick it up, Ashley tried it on". Ashley picked it up expecting it to be heavy, but was surprised by it's light weight, "this hardly weighs a thing, are sure you given me a real one and not just a model, Commander?", "don't worry, Ashley it's the real thing, and now, Mister Vega, we have this, the Avalanche, this beauty fires subatomic cyro particles that will rapidly tear through shields and armour and will completely freeze any target, it can also be charged to create a 5 metre blast area". Vega picked up the Avalanche taking a good look at it it and asked isn't it just like having Cryo Ammo in a rifle?", Shepard replied "hardly, this thing is capable of freezing a YMIR mech, Cryo Ammo wont do that, take this with you on the mission to Trident, they say there's only a small force, but Vega added "yeah,better to make sure, just in case ,you know"

Shepard left them to speak with Liara "why is it at times like this, we have the nutcases coming out, swinging wild theories and people believing them?", Liara answered "people are frightened, siame, and when people are frightened they look for quick answers and people like T'Reivin are eager to give them", "come on, ceart-leth, what she said about me was hardly goinh to bring comfort to anyone". Liara felt awkward about what she was about to say "actually in a strange way, it would, in a time like this, any answer that can bring certainty can be a comfort, no matter how bad it would make the situation seem, "yeah, better knowing than not knowing, I guess". This brought little comfort to Shepard herself knowing potentially that because of how she now looked and with what happened with al Julani, people might start to lose faith in her, Liara gave her a quick kiss, she had to lean in without using her hands to hold Liara, Shepard had been given specialised gloves to wear, but unfortunately to call them inadequate would be a kindness as her sharpened nails had torn through them, and how she wanted to hold her, to feel her again, it was almost excruciating to her


	40. Posiedon's Fork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shi'ala and her team clear out the Collectors from Trident and make a new discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Human Colonisation in this version of events is far more successful, not easier, than in canon, with millions upon millions of people leaving the overcrowded Earth every month to find new lives in the newly established colonies. We in the present are struggling with 7 billion and not just in resources, but also social pressures that come with dense population, so what would it be like with a population of 11.6 billion? And if you count the population that lived on colonies in canon, the total figure would probably be around 13 billion, if they didn't leave, so the desire to leave such overcrowding would be enticing. Earth in this version is still overcrowded, but a lot less so than in canon
> 
> Trident in this version won't be as lawless like it is in canon, but it will still will have it's criminal element and it still will be a major source of mineral wealth
> 
> As I write this, where I live is starting to go into lockdown, if this is also the case where you live then I wish you good luck and to keep those around you safe

New Cousteau, Trident's capital, like all Trident's cities was a small coastal city, not much choice on a world that's surface was 95% covered in water, higher even than the Hanar homeworld of Kahje, land on such a world was a premium and with not only humans living on the planet, but Asari and Hanar as well. Most Human colonies like Asari ones had large alien minority populations, Elysium was by far the greatest example of this with 50% of its population being made up of non humans including Asari, Salarians, Elcor, some Turians and even Volus, it was even half joked that the Asari were establishing a new matriarchy on the human colony as all populations had representation in the government of Elysium. They were some races that were not generally welcomed on human colonies like Batarians and on a Trident another race was making an unwelcomed visit, the Collectors. Normally such a small invading force would be brushed aside, but the Collectors had 2 advantages, Reaper technology and the fact that people were distracted and terrified because of the war. The collectors had already taken a quarter of New Cousteau's 500 thousand population and were in stalemate with the cities defenders, the defenders had better numbers by far, but most of them were using basic weapons.

The shuttle had landed in the eastern port area, the cities industrial area, Shi'ala instructed the team to look for survivors around the dockside area, only a few were found, one, an Asari told the team "we tried defending, but they overwhelmed us, one of their Husks caused a massive explosion at some H-3 tanks by detonating itself, it must have killed over a hundred of us", the team saw the smoke when they came in to land, "they made it past our defences and headed for the cities residential area". Shi'ala told the survivor to stay where she was and that help would be coming, she then lead the team to the residential area where the Collector force was terrorising the residents, Ashley aimed the Arc Projector she was given and fired at one of the Collectors, the bolt struck out, electrifying not only the targeted collector, but several other around it. The effect of the weapon was impressive to say the least, Vega commented "Hooollleee, fuck, thats one bad fucking barbeque", noticing the smoking bodies of the now terminated Collectors. Ashley knew that Shepard kept an impressive range of weapons and armour, which were handed out to the squad for missions, she remember the faces of Garrus, Wrex, Liara and Tali on the original Normandy when they were given the highest level Predator M, Rage, Hazard and Colossus armours well as highest Spectre level weaponry, Savant Bio amps for Liara and Wrex and a Savant Omni - Tool for Tali and a Logic Arrest Omni Tool for Garrus, all at the highest level. Tali when walking around the Citadel with her new gear almost pissed herself with worry thinking she would be arrested the next time they were on the Citadel and Ashley thinking about the memory would be pishing herself laughing at it, if she weren't on a mission

The Collectors started to mount a counter defence against the squad by using the resientual buildings as cover, Vega was about to throw in a Frag Grenade into a building that a few Collectors were hiding in, but Shi'ala stopped him "Vega, what are you thinking?, there could be civilians still in there. Vega, knowing that he wasn't thinking, responded with regret "jeez, I hadn't thought of that", Shi'ala replied "don't worry, Ashley when I give the signal I want you to hit them with your sniper". Shi'ala could see what window wall the group was hiding by, every now and again the would take shot at the squad, forcing the squad to take cover themselves, after some to and fro, Shi'ala realised a Shockwave causing the Collectors to shaken out of cover, she called out to Ashley "now", Ashley responded by using her Viper sniper rifle to shoot the stunned heads of the Collectors. The team went in to look for survivors, but the Collectors where the only ones to have been recently occupying it, but they did find an interesting data pad, it was in High Thessian, but Shi'ala translated it, it read

"Sisters, we have allowed Thessia and ourselves, the Asari to decay, we have allowed an out of touch leadership to cast us adrift, they have proceeded over our decay, they watched and did nothing while the alien surpassed us, always telling us to be patient and take the longer view. Well, my sisters, time has ran out on the longer view, we are now facing our most darkest days and if we survive, we must face another challenge, the challenge our own weakness, the weakness of our own genetics, how can we proclaim to be the dominant power of the galaxy, as we should be, when we produce the Ardat Yakshi? But worry not, sisters, plans are underfoot to use the Sword of Athame to rid us of this curse, but we need to take it away from the undesirable"

Shi'ala took the datapad as the team searched the surrounding buildings for survivors, none were found, but then again neither were any Collector forces, but the small number that they faced already told them that wouldn't last and sure enough it wouldn't. The team continued their search throughout the portside area when Ashley was hit by a bolt that not only took out her shields, but also caused them to fail to regenerate, Vega quickly pulled her into cover "Ash, stay here, your shields while be able to recover , but it's gonna take a while". Ashley not having much an option told Vega with some amount of anger and worry "okay, but be careful, it looks like there's 2 Scion out there", Vega answered "yeah, and when they are those things, you can bet they are Collectors with them, let's see if this thing Shepard gave me is any good", "well the Arc Projector was pretty impressive you have to say", "yeah, damn, we could have used those things on Fehl Prime, how does Shepard manage to get these things?", "I don't think it really matters, I'm just glad she lets us use them", "yeah, damn right, now stay here while I take out these fuckers". Vega ran out trying to get the attention of the Scions away from where Ashley was hiding "YO, ARSEHOLES, OVER HERE"

Vega darted out catching the attention of the Scions, who fired their pulse cannons at him as he ran between the buildings, a number of times they nearly caught him. The Scions moved awkwardly and slowly, thanks to their top heavy build, but their aim was very good and Vega was lucky not to have been hit. He managed to get into enough cover to charge up the Avalanche "lets see what you can do", he fired at the nearest Scion, a cyro bubble formed round the unfortunate creature freezing it's armour, making it brittle. Vega used a Carnage to finish off the Scion, but he then had to duck back under cover as the remaining Scion aimed its cannon and fired. Shi'ala was defending Ashley from Collectors as Ashley's shields had still failed to regenerate,"how long is this going to take?" Ashley asked, Shi'ala looked at Ashley with concern as she managed to get a break from the attacking Collectors. Without Ashley's shields being able to regenerate, the team was at at a distinct disadvantage, Shi'ala used Singularities to trap Collectors and detonated them with Lance ability, but she knew that it wouldn't be enough, if Vega was stuck fighting the other Scion

The Scions were monstrous contructs that served as the heavy artillery for Collector wing of the Reaper army, the Collectors although being Reaper created, where not originally presented as being such when they presented themselves to galactic stage in the 17th century. They present themselves or rather they were presented as a mysterious race that conducted strange, but grizzly trades with other races in the Terminus Systems. The Terminus Systems were another great failure of the Citadel Council, the Terminus did have it's own native races like the tech savvy Quarians and the primitive Vorcha, but it was the criminal and renegade factions of the Citadel aligned races that ruled the roost, more so after the Quarians were exiled by the Geth and left more or less left to die by the Citadel Council. It wasn't until after Shepard's mission on the Collector ship in 2185 that anyone found out the Collectors were once Protheans that had been forcibly transformed by the Reapers. Vega rolled out of the way of the Scion's melee attack "fuck, that was close", the Scion tried to thimp down on Vega again as he was rolling out of the way, he realised he was much too close to to use a grenade, so he tried to create distance between himself and the Scion by trying a back roll and firing his Typhoon at the creature after he rolled back. It managed to slow the creature somewhat enough to create enough distance to launch a grenade, the Scion staggered back anc Vega used his Typhoon to finish it

Shi'ala was beginning to become overwhelmed by the attacking Collectors "Ashley, are your shields regenerating yet?" she cried out in desperation, Ashley called out "partiially, there are at about 30%, but they are regenerating much faster now". The effects of the Scion's pulse cannon had started to wear off and although it had only been a few minutes, but in this situation it might as well as been a few hours, Ashley readied her Valkyrie rifle and went over to Shi'ala "we're going to hav e to leave or we'll be overwhelmed". The Collector force, although relatively small was starting to pin down the pair in the building and they nedded to get out fast, Ashley threw one of her inferno Gernades at the Collectors, which gave the pair the distraction they needed to escape the building they were being confined in. Shi'ala informed Ashley that Vega had went off to deal with a couple of Scion, a few streets away. They quickly met up with Vega as the streets of the port side were not particularly big, the pair noticed the giant bulks laying on the ground, "I see you've had your hands full , Vega", Ashley addressed him, "yeah, good thing I had that toy Shepard gave us" he replied to her with relief that they managed to meet back up. The respite was over quickly when they heard the chirping of Collector troopers, it was clear that the force sent to Trident was nothing more than a containment force, basically to stop the residents from joining up with the galaxy's resistance and take a few, in relative terms, captives. Trident was also known for being a major source of minerals in the sector, especially platinum and it's vast ocean floor was a great source of iridium, uranium and dust form element zero making it attractive to many mining prospectors

The team readied themselves for the Collector assault, Ashley again readying up her Arc Projector as Vaga and Shi'ala tried to herd them into a position that would cause the Arc Projector to cause the most damage, but the onslaught of the Collector weapon'fire was making that rather difficult. Shi'ala used the Particle Weapon to hold off the Collectors as Vega tried to flank them from the side, the Collectors not having a general to co-ordinate them were not adapt in participating the teams strategy, Vega wondered why this was, but hat would be a question for later, now they had to stick to the plan. Vega open up with a bombastic "get ready, fuckers" as he opened up with his Typhoon or at least as best as he could as the oppressive onslaught of the Collectors weapons fire caused the need for him to quickly dive for cover. Shi'ala tried to help by throwing Warps to hemn them into position as Ashley finally got into position to release another blast, it wasn't as many as the tea,m would have liked, but it was enough to create a large dent in their forces giving the team an oppurtunity to regroup. Shi'ala recieved a call from her com "this is Trident Defence Authority, scans tell us you've engaged Collectors, we'll be there soon", all they needed to do was to hold out. The TDA was Trident's law enforcement, quite brutal by the standards of the 4 races that made the bulk of it, 7 years ago the planet was a haven for criminal outfits and corrupt industrialists making life an absolute hell for the colonists and causing the prosperity of it's mineral wealth to land in undesirable hands, so the government formed the TDA with a mandate to not so much try to arrest, but crush utterly the element that was causing fear in the colony, which they would do by the use of torture, heavy weaponry and at times extrajudicary killings, things that would have been illegal almost anywhere else, but was needed at the time on Trident. There was no way the authorities were allowing Trident to become another Omega, where it's self proclaimed queen, Aria, liked to claim that people were free, but in reality it was a place were criminal gangs dominated the populace, who lived in constant fear, Aria tried to justify it by saying that no one on Omega was innocent, but it was only to justify her control over these elements

The team managed to hold off the Collectors until the TDA arrived, augmented by Eclipse mercenaries, who managed with extreme brute force to finish off the Collectors, a Drell officer even going as far as to decapitate one of them. Shi'ala talked with their leader Captain Reinhart, a human male, who looked like the embodiment of his team "We're glad to see you, Captain, although given your reputation I am surprised to see Eclipse members with you", Reinhart replied "well, in times like these you take all the help you can get, we managed to turn this planet around, we'll not allow a bunch of Reaper bugs to undo what we've managed to accomplished". Although the TDA was known for it's viciousness, it was also known for it's integrity, they would never exploit their power over the populace in general as most of them were made from the populace who lived under the criminals who once held sway. The criminal element on Trident was still substantial, but nowhere near it's power of a decade ago, Shi'ala asked the captain about the Collector attack, he answered "damn bugs bushwhacked us by landing their craft in our east side and taking people before we could amount a counter defence, but these things hadn't counted on our will to fight back, some of us managed to get aboard their ship and disable it, but most of them didn't make it back out", Shi'ala was saddened "I am sorry, captain", "don't be, they took the fight to these freaks and helped defend this colony". Shi'ala gave a nod of understanding and brought out the data pad she found earlier "Captain, can you tell me anything about who might be behind this?", the captain summoned over one of his Asari officers who answered "it looks like a manifesto from The Way, they're a bunch of scientists and scholars who believe the Asari have lost their way, their views are pretty extreme, but as yet haven't done anything extreme, as far as we know, at least on Trident, here's a file on them, Shi'ala downloaded the file to her omni-tool. With the threat more or less over and after a debriefing from the captain, the team took the shuttle back to the Normandy

CODEX ENTRY

TRIDENT (UNION, AU VERSION)

Colony Founded: 2154

Population: Nearly 10 million

Demographics: 70% Human 14% Hanar 14% Asari 1% Drell 1% Others

Trident is a human colony ocean world in the Attican Traverse, 90% of it's surface is water. The majority of the populations lives on the planet's scattered islands with the majority of the Hanar population, being an aquatic race, living in undersea communities. The colony was once plagued by criminal gangs and corrupt corporations taking advantage of the people and the planet's, mostly undersea, vast resources. A great purge saw these elements mostly being exiled from Trident and the need for this purge led to the formation of the TDA


	41. If We Can't Have Each Other, We Can Have Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shona and Liara decide not to let circumstances get them down, while Shi'ala reads through The Way's manifesto

Shona was not having it, although because of a possible deliberate mutation she could no longer physically be with Liara, until they could reverse it or relieve it in some way, that didn't mean that she wouldn't be spending happy times with her ceart-leth. While she was in C-Sec custody and after she accepted that they wouldn't grant her request to lock her away, she was allowed to contact an old family friend Henri, who was a master chocolateer who had a shop on the Citadel. She ordered a very special designed chocolate creation, one that Henri was more than happy to create and have it delivered to the Normandy. When humanity was introduced to the galactic community, it brought with them new innovations, along with many others such as Medi-Gel, which although technically illegal by Citadel conventions was snapped up by medical institutions all over the galaxy and any talk of banning it was instantly dismissed as utter lunacy, but there was human innovation that was at the times seen as more important, or at least as far as the Asari were concerned, that of chocolate and other sugared products. Sugared products were long seen as a treat for humans to have, but only really seen as health products for biotics who needed the extra caloric intake, but because of the different metabolism the Asari had, they were seen as full health products as well as being treats. The marketing of them on Thessia and other Asari worlds was radically different to what they were on human worlds, for example the breakfast cereal Frosties had long been advertised on Earth and other human worlds with the cartoon Tony the Tiger with the slogan, they're ggrrreeeeaaaatt, and especially aimed at children, but on Asari worlds they were advertised with a determined looking Asari Huntress with the slogan, morning's joyest light brought to your table and was aimed more at the adult market, in much the same way Special K had been advertised on Earth. The Asari had tried to mass produce sugar on Thessia, but the relatively high concentrations of Element Zero made this difficult, therefore it was grown more successfully on other Asari worlds

Shepard invited Liara up to her cabin "hey, there I got us something we could both share if you like", Liara smiling replied "what would that be, siame", Shepard ordered the delivery up to her cabin. A pair of crew member brought it up and laid on the cabin's coffee table, Liara gave a instant laugh at it, it was a coloured chocolate rendition of one of her childhood memories that she told Shona. It was of an Asari park with the chocolate model of an Asari child with a small spade digging up the ground with an adult Asari dressed in a yellow Asari dress watching the child with an annoyed look on it's face. Shepard with a smirk asked "well, what do you think?", Liara couldn't help but burst out laughing at the silly depiction of a now happy memory, "it's wonderful, Shona", she gave Shona a loving kiss on the cheek before Shona went to get some wine from the chiller. Liara took a piece from the model that represented her as child, Shona cheerfully remarked "well that proves it, Liara", "proves what" asked Liara, Shona answered saucily "that if you were made of chocolate you would eat yourself", Liara couldn't help but give a short burst of laughter "very funny, Shona".Shona then handed over a glass of wine to Liara and sat down on the couch with her "I had Henri design this, I just couldn't resist, that story about you in that Armali park was so cute, Liara", "hmm, I am glad it's kept you amused, Shona"

While Liara and Shona were having some off time, Shi'ala was reading through the files on The Way and was becoming disturbed by what she was reading, although The Way was clearly a supremacist group, albeit without the quasi isolationist elements of Cerberus, it's plans where no less disturbing when it came to other races and even Asari society, the manifesto read

"Sisters, we are have been for some time been locked in a societial stasis that has prevented our rightful progress and therefore our rightful domain over this galaxy, yes, my sisters, we have the strongest economy, but we should consider that the Volus have the highest financial control and that we can't match the industrial complex of the Doppelgangers". It didn't exactly take long for Shi'ala to figure out by who was meant by doppelgangers. The file continued "and yes, my sisters, we have the most advanced technology, but, sisters, the Salarians and the Quarians are far more adept at invention then we are and as for the technological progress of the Doppelgangers?, That my sisters should both shame and terrify you, our people and the crones who are slowly leading our people into insignificance, in only 3 centuries they have moved from clearing excrement from the streets of their primitive cities to an interstellar territory whose size rivals that of Council Space and that was all in under 4 decades. Then we come to the nadir of our military, the Battle of the Citadel, where, my sisters, where we had the pride of our navy, the Destiny Accension, guarding the very seat of galactic government, only to be hopelessly outmatched and to need the Doppelganger 5th fleet to save them from their fate, and who was responsible for this salvation? The Doppelganger heroine herself, the one who spoke of prophecy and like Cassandra of their mythology she was doomed not to be believed and now her prophecy has come true and we, sisters, are paying the price of our leaders hubris. The Doppelganger world has fallen as most likely will ours, but fear not, my sisters, for we have taken steps to not only ensure our survival, but also to bring the Doppelgangers into their rightful place in our domain either in this galaxy or to Andromeda, should the need arise and we have taken the first step when the Doppelganger heroine was in our grasp recovering from an attack by those Reaper creations when we began on the process, only too briefly, of her modification"

There was plenty more to read, but for now that was all Shi'ala needed to show Liara she called her and Shepard through the com-link, Liara responded in peels of laughter "what is it, Shi'ala?", she and Liara had been exchanging cute stories of their childhoods, Shi'ala replied "I've got something you and Shepard should take a look at", "we'll be right there". Shi'ala showed them what she had retrieved and Liara's disposition changed rapidly "those bitches" she spat out, Shepard tried to calm Liara "hey, they were stopped before they could do any further damage", Liara responded "Shona, they were experimenting on you, The Way are fanatics who believe that the Asari should not so much lead, but rule this galaxy and they believe that humanity are lost children of the goddess that have to be brought directly under Asari juristiction". A Liara paused before continued "they want to completely alter human society, they don't believe humans are an abomination, that would go against the Asari mindset, but they do believe that your societies are an abomination, if they got there way there might be 13 or 14 billion beings who might look human and might look could be subjective, but that's all that would be human about them, many Asari want humanity to be more like them, but not in the manner The Way would have it, and as for what they would do with Asari society. They believe that our e-democracy is nothing more than the squabbling of the insignificant, they despise the Ardat Yakshi not as potential monsters, but as a sign of Asari weakness and they think that Asari dictatorship would be good for all" 

Shepard was worried about what Liara had said "surely they can't have that much support with the Asari?", Liara tried to calm her, but also needed to be honest with her "no, most of what they believe in is contray to Asari ideals, however because of this war...", "their support could grow rapidly" Shepard finished for her, "yes, siame" Liara sighed. The issue with The Way would have to be put to the side for now, for now they had a more urgent priority in the Far Rim, they were to meet with a Quarian diplomatic ship to discuss the Geth situation


	42. Legionem Testimonii Part1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard meets the Quarian admirality in the Far Rim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Evening War in this version will be a mix of canon and AU as Shepard never met the Quarian Admirality during the Collector mission in this version of events
> 
> Rannoch in Kelesh means walled garden and in Scots Gaelic it means bracken

The Normandy met with the Quarian diplomatic ship at the Far Rim, Admirals, Raan, Gerrel, Xen and Korris were guided to the war room to meet with Shepard and Tali. Shepard opened up proceedings "welcome, admirals, I wish it was under better circumstances, what has been happening with the Geth?", Gerrel answered "a few weeks ago, we began our war to take back Rannoch". Shepard was stunned "what, you're going to war with the Geth now, when the galaxy's at war with the Reapers?", Korris answered "alas, we are and we may have destroyed our people with this madness", Xen retaliated "madness? we're trying to reclaim our AI mastery and our own AI creations". Shepard snapped "AI mastery?, yeah, that's worked out for you so well, I mean it's not like your mastery hasn't caused your near extinction", Xen hit back "and it's not like your cybernetics haven't taken away your organic soul". Shepard was about to hit back, but thought better of it "Tali, you did tell them about Legion?", Tali replied "yes, I told them about your friendship with Legion and the mission to destroy what you and Legion called the Heretics", Raan added herself to the conversation "yes, Heretics, the Geth faction that broke away from the main society to join Sovereign in attacking the Citadel, tell me Commander, how were you able to get this information?", Shepard replied "didn't Tali tell you?", "yes, she told us that the Geth unit told you by speaking to you directly, but I find that very difficult to believe", "it's what happened, admiral". Xen just could not help herself "speaking to her directly, hmpfh" she said sarcastically and continued "a single Geth unit doesn't have the intelligence to speak, they exchanged the information through interfacing like the machines they are, why are we listening to this thing, why are we not conversing with the blue whore suppossedly in charge of this ship and not her over upgraded robotic fuck toy?, I say we deactivate this thing and study it as well as commandeer this vessel away from it's deluded crew for their own safety"

Shepard erupted with rage "BLUE WHORE?, ROBOTIC FUCK TOY?, DEACTIVATE ME?, TAKE MY SHIP?, YOU'RE WELCOME TO FUCKING TRY, BITCH", Shepard's entire body glowed with a mix of blue biotic energy and orange tech power and displaying her shredder nails, " I'LL FUCKING RIP YOU TO PIECES", Xen called out to her fellow Quarians "you see, this thing isn't fit to negotiate like a sentient being, it's nothing more than a feral machine beast, I recommend we take my recommendation and take charge of this ship", Shepard was about to lunge when a robotic sounding voice came over the com "I RECOMMEND THAT YOU FOREGO THAT COURSE OF ACTION". Raan jumped with shock "what was that?", Tali answered "that's EDI, the Normandy's AI, I've been telling you about" and again Xen couldn't contain herself "hmpfh, another interface for the fuck toy to plug into", by now only Tali's presence was stopping Shepard from tearing Xen apart. Liara was aware of the ugly exchange through the link, [siame, keep calm, I am on my way] 

Tali was becoming more than annoyed with Xen "keelah, Shepard is my friend, I won't have you insulting her on her own ship, not while I'm around", Xen condescendingly replied "oh, Tali, your friend's dead, that is just some thing they made and programmed to act like your friend once did, it's only kept around for symbolic purposes and because the Asari can't control their.....", "would you like to finish that?" asked Liara in gentle, yet very forceful manner as she came into the war room along with Shi'ala. Admiral Raan greeted Liara "I am sorry, Dr. T'Soni, but Xen, like the rest of us is experiencing extreme stress at this time", Xen replied "don't apologise for me, I was just stating the facts, but now we have the real captain of this vessel maybe proper negotiations can commense". Liara gave a gentle, but unpleasant smile and asked "what negotiations would they be, how much I charge an hour, isn't that the type of negotiations you have with a whore?". Raan quickly tried to defuse the situation "Xen, be silent, once again my apologies, let us commence with why we are here*, "glady" replied Liara, Raan then went on "our fleets drove the Geth back to the home system when this signal eminated from the homeworld give the Geth an upgrade that caused them to greatly stall our progress", Shepard recognised the signal "it's a Reaper signal", Liara was stunned "are you sure?", "positive, you get to know them when you've been where I have". Liara shuddered at the thought, Shepard told the assembly "I'll take a squad and knock it out", Raan warily asked "are you sure you can do it", "yes, besides the signal there seems to be no reaper activity on Rannoch". Korris then stated "one of the Civilian Fleets smaller ships was shot down in our battle with the Geth and it's distress beacon was last heard coming from near the signal source", Shepard then called for Garrus and Ashley to join her as she ordered Joker to take the Normandy the Tikkun system 

The Normandy had to avoid the vast fleets of Quarian and Geth locked in deadly combat with each other over Rannoch, as they approached Rannoch, Cortez launched the shuttle.As they approached the co-ordinates they came under attack fom Geth anti aircraft guns which looked like they were protecting space cannons and a large communications jammer, Cortez told Shepard "I'll have to drop you off a few miles from the LZ, there too much flak", Shepard responded "drop us off Cortez". The team disembarked near what could be descrbed as desert cliffside near a coast, Rannoch was a desert world with large bodies of water where the vast majority of it's plant life grew next to, Rannoch in Kelesh meant walled garden, which was appropriate as the plant life grew against the wall of the water as it were. Shepard tried to get in contact with the Normandy, but the signal was disrupted "damn, jamming signal is blocking our communications, we'll have to knock it out". The team made their way through the cliffside when Shepard told the squad to halt, "what is it, Geth?", Garrus wanted to know, Shepard just unleashed an Overload at ground which caused a sudden explosion which startled Garrus "oh great, landmines". The team then continued on and again after a few hundred metres Shepard signaled for the team to stop and this time to keep quiet, a Geth Trooper was inspecting a Quarian escape pod, Shepard used her Eagle to quickly take it down, but the action alerted the other Geth in the area. A Rocket Trooper, a Pyro and another 2 troopers advanced on the squad, the Rocket Trooper fired a missile at the team causing them to duck for cover and the opening Shepard unleashed another Overload at the Rocket Trooper which chained on to the Pyro stunning them both long enough for Garrus to puncture the Pyro's fuel tanks with his Mantis sniper rifle. Once the fuel tanks were punctured Garrus unleashed his own Overload causing an explosion that not only destroyed the Rocket Trooper and the Pyro, but also the 2 Troopers with them 

The squad then checked over the wreckage of the escape pod and noticed the body of a dead female Quarian, Ashley remarked "at least she went down fighting", "yes, but where are the other bodies?" Shepard enquired, Ashley was curious "what do you mean?, Shepard answered "this pod can fit several people in it and Quarians would never launch one with just a single person in it, anyway we have to press foward". The team went foward along the cliffside until the reached an open installation guarded by Troopers and Rocket Troopers, Troopers were never really a problem, but the Rocket Troopers most certainly were and the number of them here was going to make things difficult. The spotted a Rocket Trooper at a console inputting some information to the space cannons, Shepard disabled it with an overload, but it caught the attention of the other geth. Shepard shouted to Ashley "you take on the Troopers, me and Garrus will take out the Rockets". This was going to be easier said then done as rockets were flying in all directions forcing the team to keep to constaint cover. Ashley had nearly been caught out by a rocket as she peered over some cover to take out some Troopers with an Inferno Gernade, "fuck, that was close" she said catching her breath

Shepard and Garrus were trying to eliminate the Rocket Troopers with Shepard using her Invasion to disable their abilities while Garrus used his Overload to take down their shields making it easier despite nearly being hit by rockets on several occassions. They finally managed to eliminate the last Geth when Shepard went up to the console, she told her team "you two keep a watch while I disable these guns", Shepard was the most qualified of the 3 for the task and their combat skills far exceeded her own. It wasn't long before a new problem raised it's head, a Geth Prime accompanied by 2 Hunters, Primes were large Geth that were command and control units for other Geth, while the Hunters were shotgun weilding assassins with cloaking ability. Shepard was able to see the Hunters through their cloaks with her upgraded cybernetic eyes and warned Ashley through her com "Hunter approaching you at your 2 o'clock", although Ashley was unable to see the approaching Hunter she turned to her 2 o'clock and using her Overkill ability with her Valkyrie fired in the direction she was facing and stopped when a spluttering, sparking, smoking Hunter decloaked and collapsed on the ground. Ashley was grateful for Shepard's new abilites "thanks, commander, that thing would have caught me with my pants down", Shepard answered "okay, go help Garrus take down that Prime", "what about the other Hunter?", "it's approaching my position", "do you need help, commander? Just then the Hunter had fully approached Shepard's position and was about to decloak when Shepard spun round and used her nails to swipe at the Hunter, slicing off it's faceplate causing it to short circuit and collapse. Shepard then answered Ashley, "no, everything here is well in hand go help Garrus with that Prime

Shepard continued to work on the console as Ashley joined Garrus to take down the Prime. The Prime released a drone and planted a turret, the turret kept the pair having to go into cover while the drone was deployed to get them out of cover with it's electrical shock attack. The 2 toys that the Prime had deployed caused a few problems, but were easily taken care of, now all that remained was the Prime itself, which was a much bigger problem. Garrus and Ashley came up with a plan "as I take down it's shields you hit it with your Carnage ability, Ashley",Garrus then used an Overload to take down it's shields,normally this would take out the majority, if not all shielding, but with a Geth Prime it had done to be done piecemeal. Ashley followed the Overload with a Carnage taking out more of the Prime's shielding, this caused the Prime to turn towards Ashley and fire it's pulse cannon at her, she managed to get out of the direct blast, but the shock of the blast had momentarily stunned her. Garrus had to act fast, he hit it with another Overload taking out more of it's shielding causing it to turn back towards him, blasting at him with it's pulse cannon, he had to move quickly to dodge the blasts, but it gave Ashley enough time to recover, she loaded uo her rifle with Disruptor ammo and fired at the Prime with her Valkyrie taking out it's remaining shields, Garrus had loaded his Phaeston with Armour Piercing ammo and between the two of them took out the Geth Prime. Shepard had managed to take the guns offline, "brought the guns down, the fleet should.....fuck", she was hit by a blast that disrupted her tech abilities, she turned expecting to see Geth, but what she saw sickened her


	43. Legionem Testimonii Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission on Rannoch continues as the team now face another heartbreaking situation

The team turned to see perhaps the most disgusting act that their enemies had performed to date, to take a people who had next to nothing, exiled from their homes, cast out by the galactic community and left to hopelessly wander the stars now being turned, like so many before them, into monstrosities. The creatures before the team released a squad of mini Oculus drones to harass the squad, the drones were armed with energy pellets, which on their own would do little damage, but in a combined effort they would cause great harm by electostatic shock. Shepard still having her biotics cast her Biotic Protector Sphere over her team and ordered them to take out he drones, luckly the drones were designed for tech damage and did little damage, if any, to the sphere, the team quickly took out the drones and went to work on the Saboteurs, former Quarians turned into Reaper creatures, they had the same grey like skin and twisted features like most Reaper creatures, but where they once be enclosed in an enviro-suit, now they were infused in parts of it. They were only a small group of them and it didn't take the team long to put them out of their misery, Shepard thought of her adoptive little sister, Tali, and let out a heartbreaking scream, full of near incoherant ranting "THOSE BASTARDS, THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS, THEY TAKE EVERYTHING AND THEY DESTROY IT". Liara felt the pain through the link and decided to contact Ashley to find out what was going on, Ashley replied over the com "we just took out the space cannons and we were attacked by Reaper creatures", Liara fearing it was another Provocateur, trembled "oh, no, please goddess, no..", Ashley knowing what Liara was thinking replied "they were former Quarians", Liara feeling relief that it wasn't a Provocateur coming to finish off the task of the last one and also instantly felt guilty, for her relief came not only from her Promised's pain, but also from someone both she and her promised felt so very close to, Tali

Liara had saw what the Reapers had done to her own people, her Promised's people, Wrex's and Garrus's people and now she heard her best friend's people, she would have to tell Tali and Admiral's Raan and Xen about what happened on Rannoch, with the tension between Shepard and Xen, Shepard would not be the best person to tell them. Liara walked into the war room where Raan said "Shepard's team has taken out the space cannon's, that should ease the pressure on our fleets", Liara looked forlorn before saying what she had to say "Tali, admirals, the Reapers have started to convert your people". The air just went out of the room, Tali was the first to speak "KEELAH, please tell us Shepard ended their suffering", Liara replied "yes, they are with your ancestors now", Xen was next and her words would not be pleasant "are you sure they were converted or did that thing just kill them because it doesn't have the programming capacity to tell the difference?". The air for someone really did go out of the room after that outburst, Liara used her biotics to grab Xen in a crushing grip Pull, "listen, filth, it was Ashley not Shepard who told me about them and you will not refer to my Promised as a mere machine", Xen turned to her fellow Quarians for help, Tali looked at her with utter contempt and Raan simply stated "you brought this on yourself, Xen". Liara released the grip causing Xen to fall to the floor before leaving the room

The team moved along the cliffside to get to the second installation when they came across a dying Quarian, as Shepard could not hold him because of her modified nails, Ashley played the role of comforter. Shepard asked him "what happened?", he answered in obvious pain "Geth ambushed us, killed many of us, many of us converted, my wife, tell little Jona daddy loves him", with that the Quarian drew his last breath. Shepard was reaching the end of her endurance and it didn't exactly take mind reading skills for her team to notice, how much suffering could any one person witness before they finally cracked? The team had to leave his body where it was and continue on, they came to the second installation, which had a central open roofed building guarded by Troopers, Rocket Trroopers and a single Pyro. The team went round the side to flank the Geth rather than make a frontal assault, Shepard recognised the Pyro as the most serious threat, now having regained her tech powers she released an Overload on the Pyro while Garrus used his Armour Piercing ammo to finish it off. Overload was a very effective ability on most Geth as not only did it drain their shields, but it also stunned them, making them vulnerable to on coming fire, with 2 members with this ability only the Rocket Troopers proved a bit of a problem. Again the team used the stratergy of cover, Overload and shoot to take out the Geth and besides having to dodge a few near misses, the team took out the small number of Geth, now it was time to investigated the central building

The opened up the building to reveal what looked like a Reaper containment chamber, Shepard looked at it, "it's definitely Reaper tech, but what's inside?". They opened it up to reveal a Geth wearing parts of old N7 armour being confined within, the Geth spoke "Shepard-Commander help us", Shepard in astonishment loudly whispered "Legion", Ashley then asked Shepard "you're on first name terms with a Geth?", "yes, Legion helped on the Collector mission", "yeah, but the Reapers are controlling the Geth now, what makes this one different?, "there's no way Legion would have agreed to this", "yeah, but", Legion intervened "our architecture prevents control of this unit and we are willing to go through any security precaution you deem necessary", with that Shepard simply asked "how do we free you?", Legion answered the control panel is over there", soon Legion was freed from the contraption. Shepard then asked "how did the Reapers gain control of the Geth?", Legion replied "they did not, the creators attacked, the Geth wished to live", "so the Geth made a deal with Reapers?", "yes, but it turned out to be what you call a raw deal, the Reapers offered us significant upgrades, but at the cost of many Geth being reprogrammed and the majority of Geth platforms being filled with Reaper code". Yet again another race corrupted by the Reapers and the Quarians desperation had made it happen more quickly, Shepard knew that the Reapers would do this to the Geth eventually, especially after Legion told her the main Geth were opposed to the Reapers, but to have to be so desperate for survival that they would somewhat go willingly into an alliance with the Reapers. Legion told them that he would accompany them to the third installation and that he would take out the communications jammer while fend off the Reaperised Geth. In some ways it was worse for the Geth than it was for organics, when organics were corrupted by the Reapers it was easy to tell, not so much for the Geth, they kept their original appearance, it was only now when Shepard thought about it did she realise the difference, in previous encouters with the Geth they deployed tactics and used cover, now it was purely straight on attack. Legion worked the console while Garrus used the installation gun to fend off the Reaperised Geth, Shepard and Ashley hardly needed to do anything as Garrus mowed down the attacking force. After communications were back up Shepard called for the shuttle and heard a distress call from Quarian survivors, they went to co-ordinates to pick up the surviving Quarians, after destroying the Geth attacking them. They were only 3 of them and they got quite a shock when they saw Legion, but Shepard quickly explained, she then asked them "how many of you were you on the crashed ship?", the leader answered "500", the ones who died were the lucky ones, the ones who did not, well Shepard had seen what happened to them 

CODEX ENTRY

SABOTEURS

Saboteurs are the tech squads of the Reaper armies, created from captured Quarians, with the ability to sabotage any tech ability or engine, hence their name. Saboteurs also come with mini Oculus drones that work in concert with each other to create electrostatic fields that can cause great amounts of damage to equippment and harm to personel. Because of the already extremely low population of the Quarian race, Saboteur squads are very far and few between


	44. Consensus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To boldly go where one woman has kind of went before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Xen in this version is completely obsessed by her studies into AI and cannot accept that Shepard is a living person, no matter how much people try to get through to her

Shepard took the surviving Quarians to the med-bay and Legion to the war room, where she introduced him to Tali and the 2 admirals, Admiral Raan burst out with "what the hell is this", to which Xen followed up with "I told you, she was no longer who she was, look she brought one of her machine compatriots, at least this one doesn't have the intelligence to speak on it's own", Legion then stunned the arrogant admiral "you are in error, Creator Xen". Raan looked to Xen and said "not enough intelligence to speak for itself, huh?", Xen couldn't help herself "with enough study of this Geth prototype and the former Shepard unit, we can not only gain an insight into Geth weaknesses, but also regain our position as the galaxy's premier power in AI". Tali brought her hand up to her faceplate "oh, keelah" as Shepard went off "first of all, I am a human, not an AI, second, you are going nowhere near Legion and third, you never seem to learn, how did you become an admiral, suck the right dick or lick the right pussy?, because I can't think of anyother way". Xen just smirked behind her faceplate and replied "and I would ask how you became a commander and a Spectre, but we both know that person is dead", Shepard venomously shot back "why don't we test your theory, why don't I do to your head what I did to a Geth Hunter's down there and that way you can find out if you are right?"

Raan quickly saw how this was going and brought them back on subject,"Legion, with the signal now disrupted, how will the Geth react without Reaper upgrades?", Legion replied "that is a false assumption, the signal will soon be broadcast from another location", Raan then replied "keelah" then turned to Xen "go to that communicator and co-ordinate with Gerrel....MOVE", she then turned back to Legion and Shepard "Geth fighters keep attacking our fleets is there anyway to stem the flow?", Legion answered "they are being controlled by a base on Rannoch, Shepard-commander, you will need to enter our consensus". Shepard was a little confused "it's that big", Legion noting Shepard's confusion replied "you misunderstand, you will have to directly interface with our consensus", Shepard stated "I'm not a machine, how do I enter the Geth Consensus?", Legion answered "Cerberus were developing a human/VI interface, you saw this on Project Overlord", Shepard with a mix of fear and sarcasm answered "I saw that they nearly unleashed a human/VI hybrid plague on the galaxy and what it did my vision and perception for the last leg of that mission". Raan was listening interestedly "what do you mean?", Shepard answered with less than fond memories of the event "I tried to use a console to get information and to gain access to where we need to go, I got the access all right, me and me alone, everyone else on my team was denied access, the console also sent a surge through my omni-tool into my brain, I staggered into the hall with my eyes blazing orange and seeing in what I can only descibe as omni-tool vision, everything I saw was in a one colour, usually orange and digitalised, I even saw events of the past in one of the rooms, it took me shutting down the project to get back to normal, believe me I am in no rush to repeat the experience". Xen was listening intently at the communications console

Shepard went to tell Liara of the plan and Liara told Shepard that she would accompany her along with Vega, they were soon on the shuttle back to Rannoch. Shepard told Legion it was a risk to fly through a war zone, Legion told her and the team that he would clar the way for them then dropped out of the shuttle. The team soon arrived at the landing zone and headed into the large complex. Legion readied an interface capsule for Shepard to enter "due to constraints, it's best if you enter alone", Shepard gave a look to Liara that said that she would be fine, but to keep watch, Liara acknowledged with a look of her own. Shepard stepped into the pod which closed on her, Legion told her "mapping to consensus, Shepard-Commander, it's best not to move during an upload", soon enough Shepard's body went unconscious as her consciousness was uploaded tothe consensus, the same had happened to Legion. Shepard stepped out of the pod in the digital world and was welcomed by Legion's voice "Shepard-Commander, we welcome you to our consensus", Shepard asked "where are you?", a digitalised image of legion appeared and answered "here", "how will this stop the Geth fighters?", "geth units are connected through this interface, by disrupting this interface you disrupt their connection", Legion continued to say "we've altered the appearance of this place to something more familar", Shepard replied "I wouldn't call this familar"

The landscape, such as it could be called, was all platforms and blocks with orange block strands blocking the platforms path, Legion instructed Shepard "use the combat software to take down Reaper infection. She blasted away at the orange block strands and asked "why is it shaped like a gun?", Legion answered "we noticed your interest in firearms and we wished you to have familar equipment", "oh, right, thanks, I think, but you do know that I mostly use biotic and tech abilities in combat?", "yes, but these won't work here, only the combat software provide will". She countinued to use the gun to destroy the Reaper code represented by the orange block strands until she reached a patch of light and was transported to another part of the consensus. Shepard found found herself in a part of the consensus with 2 orange block spheres, Legion stated "Reaper presence detected, Shepard-Commander, you must disrupt Reaper code to allow us access to data cores". On the way to the first core Shepard noticed a fragment of Reaper code and wondered if she could take it back with her into the real world, Shepard soon arrived at the data core and disconnected the 4 block strands connected to it, turning the sphere from orange to gray causing it to disappear and reveal a digitalised recording of 2 Quarians creating a Geth unit before the Morning War, Shepard asked "this was before the exile why are the Quarians masked?", Legion answered "you precieve these images using your own memories, how many Creators have you seen unmasked?", "fair point, by the way, Legion, what do the Quarians look like under their masks?", "their facial features are quite similar to human and asari". Shepard made her way to the second sphere, which revealed a Geth asking questions about it's purpose and it's Quarian creator complaining to a friend about the Geth not responding to commands and after viewing the footage Shepard went to a light point and was transported yet again to another part of the consensus

In the real world Liara's com went off as Admiral Raan tried to get through "Commander Shepard, are you there?", Liara answered "yes, technically, how can I help you?", "Geth fighters are approaching, but something is amiss, their fighters seem to be malfunctioning, by the way where is the commander?", "she's actually within the Geth Consensus", "so at a terminal then", "no, I mean she's uploaded herself into their consensus, she's currently in one of their interface pods". Raan could hardly believe what she was hearing "when Legion said she had to enter their consensus I thought she would be at a terminal while Legion interfaced with the Consensus", Liara replied "well, they're both interfaced and are both unconscious", "I have to get back to fleet matters, Dr.T'Soni, Shepard must tell me of what happened, Raan, out", Xen, again was listening intently. Shepard had again to decoded 2 block spheres, but this time she had to destroy the block strands adjacent to the ones block her path before she could destroy those in her path, as they would regenerate if she did not follow this pattern. After she decoded the first sphere and saw that many Quarians opposed the deactivation of the Geth, she told Legion "seems like not all Quarians wanted to deactivate you", Legion replied "yes, these creators sacrifices have been forget by their people, but not by the Geth". Shepard then went to decode the last sphere which revealed a sympathetic Quarian trying to get a Geth to safety, Legion noted "this is from the period when the creators declared marshal law". Shepard went to the meeting point and was shown footage of the last Quarians fleeing Rannoch and Legion telling her that Geth decided to let them go, then she was shown footage of their meeting on the Normandy and of the Geth's hopes for the future. She was then transported back to the intial area to get back into to the pod to exit the consensus. She woke up to Liara asking "Shona, are you alright?", she was about to answer, when several other pods opened to reveal several Geth Primes, Shepard asked in alarm asked "Legion, what's going on?", Legion answered "these Primes are freed from Reaper control, they wish to becomes us, "ok, then". At the same time Liara got a message telling her that the Geth fighters had been deactivated, they went out to meet the shuttle, but there was also a Quarian shuttle waiting for them, one of the passengers addressed Shepard "Commander Shepard, Admiral Gerrel would like to debrief you aboard the Neema", Shepard turned to the squad and told them she was going with the Quarians and that she would be back on the Normandy soon, she went into the Quarian shuttle and as soon as the doors were closed she was hit by an electrical blast that knocked her unconscious


	45. Xen, Tech Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xen tries to uncover information within Shepard

Shepard was dragged across the Moreh by 2 male Quarian officers, who took her to the main tech bay, Xen ordered "put it on the table and restrain it", the 2 Quarians then placed a still groggy Shepard on the table and placed restraints on her. One of the officers asked Xen "what do you plan to do with her?", Xen answered with an annoyed,but condescending voice "it, not her, it's a machine not a person". The 2 officers looked at each other in concern for Xen's wellbeing, what they had brought over certainly didn't feel or look like a machine, Xen just sighed and said "this thing has interfaced with a Geth unit and a VI, went into the Consensus, deactivated a Geth fighter squadron and got several Geth Primes to change their allegiance to it and we must find out how", an officer asked "so you're going to cut it open", Xen answered in annoyance "no, you fool, we're going to take a copy of it's CPU, before we send it back". Xen might be a bit obsessive, but she wasn't stupid, she knew fine well the consequences if Shepard was not eventually returned to the Normandy

Liara,after she boarded the Normandy went straight to the war room to discuss with Raan what happened, she noticed that Xen was not there, she asked Raan "where's Xen?", Raan answered "she had to go back to Moreh for a special project she was about to to conduct".Raan noticed that Shepard was not with Liara "is the Commander recovering in your med-bay?", Liara replied "no, a Quarian shuttle came down and she was told that Admiral Gerrel want to debrief her", behind her faceplate Raan gave a questioning look and brought up her omni-tool, "Admiral Gerrel, this is Raan, did Commander Shepard make it to the Neema?", in a confused tone Gerrel answered "why would Shepard be coming to the Neema?", Liara interjected "Admiral, a Quarian shuttle came down and one of the passengers told her that you wanted to debrief her on the Neema", Gerrel adamantly answered "Raan, Dr. T'Soni, I did not send down any shuttle". Liara and Raan both looked confused, before Raan asked Gerrel "if you didn't send down the shuttle then who........XEN", it didn't take long to know what happened

Xen's chief technician was scanning Shepard's still unconscious body looking for a CPU, but couldn't find one, he knew the reason for it and he dreaded telling Xen. Xen asked him "have you accessed it's CPU?", the techician gave a long sigh and answered with some interpretation "no, admiral". Xen asked with authority "why not?, Xen knew what she was doing would most likely end her admirality career, but that did not matter in comparison to what could be learned here, a way for the Quarian people to regain mastery over the Geth and become once again the first most authority in AI technology, sure she might face prison time, but in the end she would be revered as the one who turn the fortunes of her people. The technician had a worried look behind his faceplate as he answered Xen's question "Admiral, we have not accessed the CPU, because there is no CPU to access", Xen half shouted in disbelief "what do you mean, there is no CPU to access?", the techician answered "like I said, Admiral, there is no CPU, admiral, this isn't a machine, it's a human, highly cybernetically enhanced, yes, but a living human female none the less". Xen couldn't believe what the techician was telling her "have you lost leave of your senses, is the equipment faulty or are you just incompetent?"

The technician in a mix of panic and incredulity answered "Admiral, the equipment is functioning at full efficiency and all of the techs and medical staff have came to the same conclusion, this is a living person, listen, this is her heartbeat". Xen was still sure that the technician was wrong "are you sure the equipment is not faulty?", the techician replied "absoutely, the equipment is not faulty, this is in fact a living person, however take a look at these scans". Xen looked at the technicians scans of Shepard's body "hmm, extensive cybernetic upgrades and genetic modification, nanites in bloodstream, upgraded body capacities and it looks like.......wait, I don't believe it, increased immunity and lifespan", the techician asked "by how much, 5 or 10 years?", "no, by centuries, make several copies of these scans". Xen would have loved to make a more extensive study of Shepard's body, but she knew that the proverbial door was about to be broken down.

Xen's omni-tool went off and she was being addressed by Raan "Xen, we know you have Shepard, return her immediately or face the consequences", Xen tried to plead her case when she was suddenly struck with a powerful Reave, Shepard had become conscious somehow managed to free herself from her restraints and was now making Xen suffer. Xen's entire nervous system felt like it was being fried, the technician stood frozen with fear as he watched Xen suffer unbearable torment. Shepard gave him a look that said don't move and seeing what was happening to Xen, he very quickly decided to obey it, Shepard's black and red eyes were full of pure hatred for the pathetic Quarian who treated her like an object. Xen was feeling her life very slowly draining away from her, Shepard had deliberately fine tuned her Reave to be as painful as possible while only draining energy from Xen's body very slowly making it absolutely excruciating for Xen. Shepard had suffered her squadmates mistrust, being put in med-bay on more than one occasion, watching her mother's and Promised's tears, the idiocacy of the Asari Matriarchy, the selfish shortsightedness of the Salarian Dalatrass, her friends being killed, a very close friend being turned into a monster, her own near conversion into the same type of monster, being experimented on by fanatics, no longer being able to hold her Promised in her arms and now this, being held captive by an obsessive on her ship, this was the final straw that broke her

Shepard's normally cool friendly and loving character was gone and in it's place was a vengeful demon full of fury and hate, Shepard normally hated the type of people who took pleasure out of people's suffering , but here she was taking great delight out of Xen's suffering and manical killer's smile came across Shepard's face. She was loving every moment of Xen's agony, being held frozen by the pain Shepard's Reave was causing her, but this was not enough for Shepard, she wanted Xen to see her face when she took her last embers away. Shepard walked up to her with her taloned nails ready to deal the final blow when the tech-bay door came open and she heard "PLEASE, SIAME, NO" coming from Liara, Shepard turned to see the sad horrified look on her sweet Promised's face and realised what she had become, she collapsed on the floor crying, releasing Xen from the Reave. Xen turned to Raan, who accompanied Liara, Garrus, Tali and hoarsely said "I want that animal placed under arrest, Raan replied "certainly, guards, take Admiral Xen into custody, Dr. T'Soni, please accompany Commander Shepard back to the Normandy"


	46. Close

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her ordeal Shepard needs to be around those close to her and to tell stories of her involvement in the Collector mission, starting with her meeting with Niftu Cal, FEAR HIM, LESSER CREATURES

Shepard had never seen that sad horrified look in Liara's face because of her actions before, she seen it because of what Liara had seen, heard, learned or had worried about, but never because Liara had seen what she did. The only other time in her life that she took such joy in the continuing torture of another being was when she and her fellow marines raided that brothel where the women taken from Perun's Bolt were held captive and enslaved. After Shepard and her team rescued the women, they went to slowly and painfully torture the brothel owners and their clientel, only at that time there was a lot of justification as they witnessed beings who basically thought that humans were nothing than things to be used for their pleasure. Shepard at the time took great pleasure at torturing the Krogan who had been gang raping a tied down 17 year old girl, she remembered what she said to the Krogan "think the Genophage is crippling your ability to breed?, wait till you experience what I have planned for you", after that, well let's just say it would be highly unlikely that they would be fathering any children. Anyone witnessing the horrors those women had suffered would be hard pressed not to feel the same way towards those inflicting that suffering, but that was then and this was now

Now, just recently, she had taken great pleasure in the torture of someone, who although annoying, was nothing more than a misguided idiot. She went to the starboard lounge to talk to her Promised, Garrus and Liara, she spoke to her Promised first "Liara, I am sorry that you had to see me act that way, I never want to see that look on your face because of my actions, can you forgive me, ceart-leth?", Tali intrjected "don't be sorry, Shepard, that boshtet got what she deserved". Shepard was astounded "how can you say that, Tali?", Tali replied "Shepard, Xen spoke of committing piracy when she threaten to take the Normandy and she kidnapped the legitimate captain of an allied vessel, in the fleet, these are capital crimes", Liara added "Tali is right, siame, you should not feel sorry for what you did, Xen had you kidnapped to experiment on you", Shepard with a sad look replied "yeah, I know, but it was that look on your face that got to me, it was if I truly did turn into a monster". Liara went over to Shepard place a hand on her arm "siame, hear me, it wasn't because of what you did that caused that, it was seeing what that idiot had reduced you to, siame you could never truly be a monster, but anyone who has went through what you've been over the last 4 years would eventually snap at some point", Shepard looked at Liara with a smile "yeah, maybe, but it hasn't been all bad, have I told you about my meeting with the biotic god, Niftu Cal?"

Shepard went to the bar to get herself, Liara, Garrus and Tali some drinks, after she got them she back to where they were sitting and began to tell her story, "we, myself, Grunt and Kasumi were trying to recruit Samara, but she wanted to find the manifest of a ship that the Eclipse had used to smuggle a criminal off Illium, that she had been chasing, we decided to help her while she stayed with the local police". Garrus asked "who was it that she was after?", Shepard answered "turned out, it was her eldest daughter, Morinth, but that's another story, we fought our way through Eclipse mercs and we got near to Wasea's office, the Eclipse captain that smugled Morinth off the planet, and there right in front of us was the most delirium filled Volus you could ever see". Shepard got up to make the poses Niftu Cal did and to speak in the manner that he did "he turned to us with a biotic glow and said I am a biotic god, I think things and they happen, fear me lesser creatures, Shepard stopped the impersonation, of course he wasn't a biotic at all, the glow was just the after effect of the Minagen X3 he and another Volus, Pitne For had been trading to the Eclipse and the Red Sand injections the Eclipse put in Cal when they found out about the side affects". Garrus was trying to keep in his laughter as an image of a delirious Volus came into his head as Shepard continued "here was this Volus staggering like a drunk beachball proclaiming vengeance against all who had wronged him starting with Pitne For", Shepard went back to impersonating Cal "I will seek a terrible vengeance on Pitne For and all who follow him, I, great wind, will sweep all before me like a...great wind". Tali by now was in hysterics at the thought of this ridiculous Volus as Shepard went on with her story "he then went on to claim that he would have vengeance against Wasea, again Shepard impersonated Cal "I will toss her like a ragdoll", Garrus, by now couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing, Shepard went on "of course we knew he would have no chance, especially when he turned round towards Wasea's ofice and fell down after I tapped on the back of the neck, I managed to convince him to go and take a nap". The 4 of them were laughing over the thought of the biotic god

Tali then asked "how did you and Legion meet, Shepard?", the joy of the Niftu Cal story faded rapidly from Shepard, but she answered Tali's question "on a derelict Reaper in the Thorne system, we were sent there by the Illusive Man to retrieve a Reaper IFF, which you should be happy to know is currently installed on this very ship". That little announcement had Liara uncharacteristically spit out her drink, "siame, please tell me you're joking", Shepard sheepishly replied "no, I am not, we needed it to pass through the Omega 4 relay", Liara got up and was storming towards the door, "well now that you came back from the Omega 4 relay, I'm going to have it ripped out". Shepard informed her "it's probably the only thing stopping the Reaper fleet detecting us too readily, ceart-leth, if you rip it out, we'll probably have half the Reaper fleet on our tail". Garrus asked "does it work like other IFF's?", Shepard turned to him "no, Reaper IFF's look for a friendly intelligence not a transponder signal", "how did you manage to install it?", "with great difficult, it alerted the Collectors to our position and they kidnapped the crew while we were dealing with Geth Heretic Station, but these, like the Morinth story, are stories for another time". Liara shot her a look that Shepard knew from experience that they were going to have some unpleasant words before very long

Although Shepard and Liara loved each more than life itself, they like all couples in a serious relationship still had their heated arguements and although they both able to share memories through the link and melding each was able to hide certain memories from the other and it was only now that Shepard realised that she must blocked out the memory of the Reaper IFF being installed up until this point. For now Shepard continued with telling them about her meeting with Legion, "the Reaper was long dead, but some of it's systems like a power core and it's indoctrination systems were still active even after so long", Garrus spluttered "the indoctrination systems were still active, how long was the Reaper dead?". Liara already knew this story from melding with Shepard and knew the reaction Garrus and Tali would have when Shepard answered, which she did, "about 37 million years, it was hit by a mass accelerator round by some race at the time and left adrift orbiting Mnemosyne", Tali was absolutely stunned "KEELAH, their systems can still operate after that much time adrift", "yeah, but without a living presence it would seem far, far more slowly, a Cerberus science team was on board it for some time before they started to feel the effects", "how long?", "I am not sure, but it would seem like several weeks going by the logs they left behind"

Shepard knew it was going off track, "anyway, back to the story, we, myself, Samara and Grunt managed to get to halfway through the Reaper when 2 shots hit out at 2 Husks that managed sneak up on us, I looked at the shooter and there was a Geth unit wearing some old N7 armour and he said only 2 words Shepard-Commander before going off, we managed to get to the core room and shut it down and fight off the swarms of Husks, we got ourselves and the Geth unit off the Reaper before it crashed into the planet". Garrus and Tali were on tenderhooks as Shepard continued, "I went to talk to the Geth unit and he told us about the split between the Heretics and the True Geth, when Sovereign went to the Geth with their offer",, Garrus interrupted "their?", Shepard responded "yes, the Geth unit informed me that the Reaper had one wiil, but many minds and now that I know how they are created, I know from where these minds came from." Although she knew the story already Liara looked just as sick as Garrus and Tali when they heard it, Shepard resumed her tale "the Geth unit told us that Sovereign was merely the name Saren gave it, the Reaper's actual name was Nazara". Shepare then went to explain Legion's name "I asked the Geth unit what I should call it, it replied Geth, I then asked what I should call the individual in front of me, ne replied that there was no individual but a unit made up of 1132 seperate programs, it was EDI who suggested the name Legion because of this......". The ship's com suddenly came on with Legion declaring "Shepard-Commander we have found the Reaper base"


	47. Decision Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reaper base has been found, which way will the Evening War go?

Shepard made her way to the war room to hold a brief on the oncoming mission with Raan, Tali and Legion, as she walked in Raan told her "we've found the Reaper base and not a moment too soon, it's about to broadcast it's signal". Shepard asked "can't we just bomb it from orbit?", Raan replied "no, it has some sort of jamming shield, we can't get a target lock", "so we'll have to go in by foot". Legion brought up another display on the holo-projector and called Shepard's and Raan's attention to it "this is a display of the programming of a single get unit", Legion then switched the image "now 10 working simultaneously", the geth switched the image again "and now with the Reaper upgrades". Shepard took notice of the image, "a true AI", Legion replied "yes, as complex as that of organics, indicative of life", "yeah, you're right, Raan blurted out "COMMANDER", Shepard turned to her "well it is, I saw their history in the Consensus, it was heading this way, the Reapers just accelerated the process". A thought came to Shepard, "Legion is there any way the Geth could have the upgrade without being in Reaper control?", Legion answered "affermative, Shepard-Commander". Raan looked horrifyed "Shepard, with these upgrades the Geth could wipe us out", "negative, Creator Raan" replied Legion, "we have no wish to cause further Creator death". Shepard asked Raan "is there any way possible your people can reconcile with the Geth?, Raan still in shock answered "I suppose, I'll have to talk to the other admirals", "please do while we take out the Reaper base"

On the shuttle to the surface Shepard spoke with Tali "Tali, I don't want to have to say this to you, but you'll have to be prepared". Shepard took a long pause, for although she couldn't see Tali's face through her faceplate she knew that Tali had a look of sadness, she tried to be gentle as it could be possible to say what she had to, "Tali, besides the Geth, I am afraid we might encounter more Reaperised Quarians, I need you to be ready for that". Shepard and Liara knew what Tali was going through even though she had to encounter them, to have your people turned into something so horrible that it almost defied immagination. They had seen what the Reapers had done with their people and even they after seeing it so often couldn't get used to it, so they worried greatly for Tali, they hoped that they would only encounter reprogrammed Geth, Liara said a silent prayer for that to be the case. They soon landed on the surface with Tali being the first to get out, she looked around at the semi desert landscape of her homeworld and said "Shepard, you've heard me say Keelah Se'lai, the closest translation would be by the homeworld I hope to see one day and now I have", Shepard replied "we've still got a long way to go, it isn't yours quite yet"

They made their way to the Reaper base and were immediately fired upon by Geth Troopers, Tali responded by releasing Chitikka, her combat drone, which used it's pulse attack to distract them while Tali shot them with her Reager Cabrine, Shepard used her Invasion ability to distrubt their processes while Liara used her boitics to thin their numbers. The only real obstacle that team faced was the large number of Troopers that kept them seeking cover while they continued to wear down their numbers, eventually the last Trooper fell and Shepard called to the other 2 "come on we need to get inside", they just managed to get inside before the gate slammed down behind them. Shepard heard Legion, who had been dropped off at previous point, through her com "Shepard-Commander you must make your way to the central processing room, there you must activate 2 consoles after which you can use a lift to get to the rooftop area". Shepard acknowledged the call and made her way through the base

Tali had been warned about what the Reapers were doing to her people and she thought herself ready, but as they progressed through the interior of the base she heard some strange groaning noises, she turned to Shepard, "what was that?". Shepard looked to her friemd with great pain "Tali, you better prepare yourself", Shepard spoke to Liara through the link [I am afraid for Tali, ceart-leth], Liara tried to comfort Shepard [and we will be her support]. The groans became loader as the team came closer to the source, a feeling of dread came over Shepard for adoptive little sister, she knew she wouldn't be able to protect Tali from what she would be feeling, but it didn't stop her wanting to try. Shepard heard the sound of the Saboteurs footfalls coming closer "get ready" she said to Tali and Liara, who was the first to spot them "GODDESS, PRESERVE US" she almost screamed. Tali turned to look at what Liara had seen and almost froze at seeing what the Reapers had done to her people, she hadn't doubted when Shepard told them about the Saboteurs, but now she almost wished what Xen had been saying about Shepard was true, for now she did not know what would be worse.

She aimed her shotgun at the former Quarians, but she could not bring herself to pull the trigger, these were once her people, she found that she could not do it. Tali now knew what Shona and Liara must feel when they saw Husks, Nemesis's, Provocateurs and Banshees, to see your own people, people who were innocent, had lives and people they loved being twisted into creatures whose only goal was to destroy. The thought that the people of the galaxy were having to fight and kill the ones they loved now really struck Tali like a sledgehammer to the heart, she could no focus, all she could do was to blurt out with a stutter "p-p-please Shepard, guide them to the ancestors, don't let them suffer anymore, please I beg you, send them to their rest". Shepard heard Tali's tear filled pleas and looked at Liara who had a look of unbridled rage on her face, she spoke to Shepard through the link [when you told me about them on the Normandy, I was outraged, but now seeing them, I, I...], Shepard tried to focus Liara [come on, Liara, let's help Tali in her moment of need], [of course, siame]

Shepard continued to talk to Liara through the link [saff, we can't allow them to activate their drones, I am going to activate my Annihilation Field, when I have enough affected hit the field with a Warp] Liara determinedly replied [don't worry, I will, siame]. Shepard ran into a large group of them with her field activated then Liara fired the most powerful Warp she ever produced a massive biotic explosion which euthanised the unfortunate Saboteurs, but clean knocked Shepard off her feet. Normally when preforming a biotic explosion combo, the ones contributing are not affected, but this one was so powerful that the person who intiate the combo, Shepard was taken by surprise. Liara panicked "SHEPARD"


	48. Decisions Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the squad hope to bring peace to Rannoch

Liara rushed over to Shepard in a panic, but Shepard waved off her concern, "I am alright, Liara, that's one mighty Warp, Liara". Liara looked guilty "I am sorry, siame", Shepard laughed it off, "don't worry about it, now let's help Tali with what's left of the Saboteurs". Tali was in a saddened rage as she used her shotgun to take down the remaining Saboteurs "ancestors, forgive me" she cried to herself when she was hit by a Sabotage pulse which rendered her tech abilities useless and caused a malfunction in her enviro-suit. Shepard called to Liara "quick, Tali's in trouble", they both ran to Tali's position, Liara firing her Phlanax at the Saboteur's and Shepard using her taloned nails to slice the arm of one that was about to activate it's drone. Liara told Shepard "siame, you have the better tech skills, you see to Tali, I handle what's left of these unfortunates", "are you sure?", "yes, siame, they're obviously not created for combat", with that Liara finished the remaining Saboteurs with a Singularity and shots from her pistol

Shepard helped with Tali's suit and asked her "is your omni-tool operational again?", Tali replied "yes, it's coming back online". Shepard felt bad for Tali, having to see her people turned into monsters, "Tali, I'm sorry you had to see that", Tali's voice was shaky "there's nothing to apologise for, I'm just glad you ended their suffering", "I think that was mostly Liara, Tali, you should really be thanking her". Tali turned to Liara "Thank you, Liara, for saving them", Liara knew what was meant and gave a comforting, but said smile and simply stayed silent, what could be said didn't seem appropriate. The squad continued on, on the way to the surface Shepard was given a targeting laser to target the source of the Reaper control signal for the Normandy to get an accurate shot, they had to get to a high area on the base for the laser to be able to target accurately as the signal source seem to becoming from a bunker. The team made their way to the main processing area where they encountered Geth Troopers accompanied by Geth Hunters and Geth Bombers. Geth Troopers were never really a problem, but the Hunters with their cloaking ability were, but Shepard could track them with her her cybernetic enhanced eyes, she could see the distorted waves of light that was the sign of a Hunter's approach

Shepard shouted "Tali, Hunter at your 10 o'clock", Tali swiftly turned arond and blasted the approaching Hunter. "thanks, Shepard" Tali responded. The Bombers were providing to be a nuisance, driving the team out of cover and into the sights of the Troopers. Shepard ordered "Tali fire an Energy Drain at these Bombers, we'll take out the Troopers", Tali used her Enegy Drain to take down the shields of the Bombers, but their armour still caused a problem and they could be approached within shotgun radius as they were able shoot out electical pulses. Tali put her shotgun away and pulled out her Arc Pistol and fired at the floating Bombers, careful to get out of the way of the concusion bombs that they were dropping. She shot one down, they quickly got out of the way of the other, the other Bomber's bombs detonated quite near enough to give her a fright, but she managed to regain her composure and shot down the last Bomber. Shepard and Liara made quick work of the Troopers and activated the console that opened the bunker doors, now they had to activate the console that brought the lift, only that was going to be easier said than done

The opening of the bunker doors had alerted the Geth and a larger number of them swarmed into the control centre, Shepard noticed it was mostly Rocket Troopers and Pyros. She ordered her team "GET TO COVER", this was going to have be fought out with a seige mentality, the Rocket Troopers kept their positions, but the Pyros kept moving towards the team. The team knew that the Pyros had to be the first priority as if they were allowed to get too close then they would burn the team alive, Tali careful moved from her position near the team to a new cover position, unfortunately a Pyro had spotted her and activated it's flamethrower. "TALI", Liara screamed in fear as the flames got closer to Tali, Tali had to quickly run out of cover exposing herself to the Rocket Troopers, Shepard quickly activated her Overload at the 2 Rocket Troopers with the best firing position to shoot their rockets at Tali. The Overload stunned the Rocket Troopers just long enough for Tali to get into a better position to activate her Sabotage ability on the Pyro targeting her, causing it's flamethrower to malfunction. Tali fired her Arc pistol at the Pyro's tank then released an Overload causing them to explode, the explosion managed to effect some other nearby Geth, thinning there numbers somewhat

The Rocket Troopers kept the team pinned down with a barrage of missiles and there was at least one more Pyro out there, "Tali, release your drones" Shepard ordered. Tali realeased her combat and defense drones to distract the Rocket Troopers, while they looked for that last Pyro, it didn't take long as they noticed a yellow Geth coming to their position to their left, Shepard released an Invasion that disrupted it's systems while Tali and Liara shot it down. All that were left were the Rocket Troopers who kept mercilessly pounding the squad position, Liara commentated "we're trapped here" as the missiles kept being fired at them, Shepard and Tali kept releasing Overloads at the Geth when there was a lull in the shooting, while Liara fired Warps at the stunned Geth. This took sometime, but it eventually wore down the Geth and the team was able to proceed to activate the second console to bring the lift to the rooftop, "come on" Shepard said to the team


	49. Decisions Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team make it to the rooftop

There was only 3 Geth left and they were facing away from the team, unfortunately they were Geth Primes, Shepard whispered to her team mates "there is a Spitfire, I'm going to get it before they detect us, when they do you two cause a distraction and I'll open up with this thing". The 2 team mates gave simple nods of acknowledgement as Shepard went to get the Spitefire, she managed to retrive just in the nick of time as the Primes detected the presence of the intruders with the one in Shepard's direct path opening fire on her with it's pulse cannon. She managed to dive out of the way and instead of firing back at the Prime that attacked her, she went to engage the one on her right. Tali released an Energy Drain to take down the shields of one Prime, while Liara used a combination of Warps and Throws to cause biotic explosions to combat the other. Shepard opened fire on the Prime she was targetting, the Spitfire made short work of the Prime, unfortunately it drained the weapon of most of it's power. Liara and Tali were struggling against the Primes they were battling in the confined space, Shepard noticed that their shields were almost depleted, {fuck}, she thought to herself as she run to their position to activate her Shield Boost ability to recharge their shields, [I'm here, ceart-leth], she said to Liara through the link to disuade the Asari's fears, she then gave Tali a reassuring touch on the shoulder. The trio went to work on the remaining 2 Primes, with Tali taking out their drones and Turrets while the bonded pair worked on their platforms which had already been weakened thanks to Liara and Tali, the battle although brief was not easy, but eventually the last Prime was deactivated

Shepard went to the ledge to target the bunker, EDI's voice came over her com, "Normandy's weapon systems syncing to your targeting system", Shepard aimed the sync laser at the centre of the bunker and the Normandy swooped down to launch 2 missiles at the bunker which caused an explosion where the aftershock knocked Shepard off the ledge. Fortunately, her armour cushioned most of the impact, by the time she get up both Liara and Tali had somehow made their way down to her. They heard the horrible sound of a Reaper's blare as they saw a Reaper Destroyer slowly crawl out of the bunker, Shepard screamed into her com to both the Normandy and the Quarian fleet "IT'S NOT A REAPER BASE, IT'S A LIVE REAPER". Legion called over it's com "Shepard-Commander, we have secured transport", the trio sprinted for the Geth hover vehicle with Shepard manning the gun. After chasing away from the Destroyer they managed to get enough distance and Shepard called in her com "we're far enough away, open fire", the Destroyer was hit by a massive explosion which caused it to collapse, Shepard heard Gerrel over her com "what did we hit?", she replied "it's firing chamber, it seems to be a weak point while it's charging", "damn it, we can't target it, jamming interference is distrupting our targeting systems", "Admiral can you hook up to my sync laser?", "yes, what do you have in mind?"

Shepard spoke to EDI through her com "EDI sync the targeting laser to the whole damn fleet, Legion stop the vehicle, I'm getting off", Legion was puzzled "Shepard - Commander, what are you planning?", Shepard answered "I am going to provide targeting assistance to the fleet by aiming this laser at the Reaper". Liara and Tali were horrified, Tali tried to disuade her, "Shepard, please, I beg you, do not do this", Liara was struggling with her harness crying bitter tears. Shepard instructed Legion "if we don't do this the Geth stay under Reaper control and the Quarians are dead, Legion get them to safety", Liara by this point was shrieking incoherantly still struggling with her harness as Legion sped off. The Reaper was getting up and began firing at the fleet in orbit, Shepard aimed the laser at the Reaper's firing chamber and it was hit by a direct blast causing it pain, the Reaper turned it's attention to Shepard and began to move foward towards her, it fired it's weapon in a path toward Shepard, she managed to get out of the way and target the chamber causing the fleet to score another direct hit. This happened another 3 times with the Reaper getting nearer to Shepard each time before it collapsed without getting back up

Shepard went to the plateau's edge to confront the defeated Reaper when Legion's hover vehicle pulled up nearby, Legion prepared final calibrations while Tali walked up to Shepard, Liara ran up. The Reaper turned it's viewing lens to Shepard and blared out "SHEPARD", Shepard replied "you know who I am?", "HARBINGER SPEAKS OF YOU, YOU RESIST, BUT YOU WILL FAIL, THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN", "oh yeah?, we broke it for you", "YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND THE MAGNITUDE OF OUR PRESENCE, EVERY ORGANIC CIVILISATION MUST BE HARVESTED TO BRING ORDER TO THE CHAOS, IT IS INEVITABLE, WITHOUT OUR INTERVENTION ORGANICS ARE DOOMED, WE ARE YOUR SALVATION". Liara had lost all composure and screamed at the Reaper "BRING ORDER TO CHAOS, SALVATION?, YOU'RE JUST AN ABOMINATION CREATED BY EVIL TO BRING MISERY, WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, YOU'RE A PRISON FOR THE MILLIONS OF SOULS OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE KILLED TO CREATE YOU AND ONCE YOU ARE TERMINATED THEY WILL FIND PEACE IN THE EMBRACE OF THE GODDESS WHILE YOU WILL JUST RUST AND ROT". Liara snatched the sync laser from Shepard and aimed it at the Reaper, which was hit by a final volley terminating it, Liara said quietly "and now these souls can rest in peace"

Legion approached the group and asked Shepard "Shepard-Commander are you ready to assist with the uploading of the upgrade?", Shepard addressed Tali, "Tali get the admirals on the com". The admirals came over the com as Shepard addressed them "are you ready to stand down?", Raan spoke for them all "we are", Shepard told Legion "upload the upgrade". While in the Consensus Legion had downloaded a component needed for the upgrade into Shepard's omni-tool and told her to activate it when the download was at over 80%. The downloaded reached 80% but it was not enough, Legion addressed Shepard "data download inefficent, direct personalty disemination required", Shepard replied "are you sure?", "it's the only way, activate the last component when I deactivate". Tali came up to Legion "the answer to your question about having a soul is yes", Legion quite replied "I know, Tali, Keelah Selhai", with that Legion collapsed and Shepard activated her omni-tool.

Shepard felt a strange tingling sensation come from her omni-tool arm, an orange omni tool pattern spread from her arm to cover her body as she collapsed to her knees with her head tilt back with orange light coming from her wide opened eyes and mouth as she gave out an unholy deafening howl. Liara cried out "SHONA" as bright explosions filled the sky, she cried frantically into her com "HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE RECEIVING THIS?", Raan responded "yes, the Geth ships are self destructing", "what's happening?", "I don't know, Dr. T'Soni, but something is causing the Geth to be wiped out, I can hear a loud scream on your end what's going on?", "it's Shona, somethings happened with her omni-tool, it's spread an orange glow all over her and it's transmitting towards the sky", "we're on our way down, hold on, Raan out". As the last Geth ship self destructed, the orange glow faded from Shepard's body as she collapsed face first unconscious on the ground, "SIAME", Liara cried out as the admirals approached their position. Xen was laughing manically, "my little download worked", Liara was stunned "you're responsible for this?", "yes, when that machine was with us I noticed it had a Geth upgrade program that needed a synchronizing program to activate it, so I uploaded a self destruct trojan program that would download the command into the Geth when both parts of the upgrade program where synchronized, but don't worry, trollop, your little sex toy will be back to normal after a few days","XEN" roared Raan. "Dr. T'Soni please accept my most sincere apologies, we will be having a long discussion with Xen, please inform Commander Shepard we will be assisting the Allied Fleet and thank her for bring us home". Liara said nothing as Tali helped her load Shepard into the shuttle, her siame was the priority


	50. Athame's Contemplation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liara is, how shall we say, upset? But something might give her hope

Hackett was livid when he was communicating with Liara over the Q.E.C, "she inputted a virius in Shepard's omni-tool?" he said with a scowl that displayed his barely contained rage, Liara trying to keep calm answered "more a trojan horse program, but essentially, yes, Admiral", "how was she let free after they arrested her for Shepard's abduction?", "they were desperate, Admiral, they needed Xen's tech skills". Hackett leaned foward, "we're all desperate, Dr. T'Soni, but that does not excuse how Xen treated Shepard, to be used as nothing more than a tool in her own ambitions", "believe me, I know, and she will pay for she has done to Shepard, I swear it". Hackett became concerned as he asked about Shepard, "how is she, Dr. T'Soni?", Liara exhaled as she answered "Dr. Chakwas is checking her, while Tali and the engineering team are going over a heavy diagnostic of her omni-tool and cybernetics to make sure Xen didn't leave any other nasty surprises", "how long will she be out of comission?", "probably for the next few day's, Dr. Chakwas is keeping her in med-bay, this will be the 3rd time she has had to stay under medical supervision and the 4th time she has been betrayed by a supposed ally, Admiral, I am not sure how much more she can take, how much I can take". Hackett had, like Anderson known Shepard throughout her whole military career, to him she was more than just another soldier, far more than the heroine she was to the galaxy's public, she was as family to him, but he also knew that she was the face of the resistance against the Reaper onslaught and that if she could fall then the whole cycle could fall.

Hackett tried to encorage Liara, "Dr. T'Soni, I want you to know that for every betrayal you and Shepard will have to suffer there will be ten times more loyalty, believe that, and also believe we will stand by you and Shepard, no matter what the cost", Liara smiled gently "thank you, Admiral". Hackett gave a slight nod, "but I'm afraid we must press on to other matters, I want you to visit Dr. Bryson on the Citadel". Liara asked why?, has he information that can help us?", "he was assigned the head of Task Force Aurora to gather intelligence on the Reapers, he says he might have come up with something", "I'll go to the Citadel after I check on Shona", "you and Shepard be well, Hackett out". Liara then made her way to the med-bay to enquire on Shepard's progress, "ah, Liara, you're here", she hear Dr. Chakwas say to her, Chakwas went on to tell her "physically Shepard will be fine and will be back to duty in a few days and the engineer team have assured me they are no me surprises in her omni-tool or implants and better yet, I think I have some better news for you". Liara was anticipating what Chakwas was going to tell her "what is it Karin?", the doctor smiled at her and told her "we think we've found a way for Shepard to be able to retract her talons at will". That caused Liara to gasp with joy, now they could hold each other without the threat of flesh being torn asunder, no longer would they need to keep distance, they finally embrace each other once again, "that's wonderful news, Karin, thank you"

Tali came up to speak to Liara, "Liara, I am so sorry for what Xen did to Shepard", Liara just looked forlorn towards her friend "Tali, you have nothing to be sorry about, but tell me how did Xen manage to put that program in Shepard's omni-tool?", "I am not completely sure, but she must have been working on it for months waiting for the right carrier to carry it and Shepard's omni-tool and implants, especially after coming back from the Consensus would be perfect, when Shepard activate with her signal it would have interacted with Legion signal to cause what it did". Tali went to tell Liara "Liara, I am not sorry the Geth are gone, they killed billions of my people, be they enemies, friend or neutral towards them and who knows how many other people from other races even before the Reapers, even with peace between my people and the Geth we would always have to keep our weapons in arms reach, but that being said I am not happy on how it was done, Xen took my friend and used her as a tool and regard her as nothing more, Liara, she does not consider Shepard to be living person worthy of respect, you might have to kill her if the situation is needed"

Liara thought about this and said "Tali, I hope it never comes to that", Tali lowered her head and half whispered "as do I". Liara had in the last 4 years had encountered more tragedy, deceit, death and destruction than most people would in a lifetime, but she also encountered more hope, love, life and co-operation than what she thought possible. This what kept her going, kept her fighting long past the point where a lot of people would have given up. She had the support of good friends like Shi'ala, Tali, Wrex and Garrus, she had established a relationship with her estrange father, but most of all she had Shona, her bondmate, the love of her life, her stablity, her reason and together they would bring light back to the galaxy and to each other. But for now she had to go to Dr. Bryson's lab on the Citadel and find out what he had discovered and how it could help in the war against the Reapers and after the disaster on Rannoch, did they ever need it. They had gotten the support of the Quarians, sure, but how many in the Allied Fleets would trust them? Especially after what Xen had done to Shepard, Liara had made sure that everyone that she could communicate to knew about it and Hackett would have told the Alliance about Xen's transgressions. Liara knew what Xen did was for her own benefit and not for the Quarians, but that would not stop the incriminations for the Quarians, should the war be won would the Quarians be quarantined to a few habital systems like the Krogan had been for many centuries by angry galactic powers?

The idea of the galaxy going back to a pattern of distrust did not sit well with Liara, but she was also a realist or rather more of a realist than most maidens her age, She knew with almost certainty what the face of the galaxy would be like, if the war was won, the sheen of patient wisdom that her own people had been carrying for centuries had been knocked off by the matriarch's idiotic stalling and after the war the other races would no longer look to them for guidance. The Krogan, Quarians and Rachni would be closely monitored, the Salarians would be considered outcasts or at least parts of their leadership like Dalatrass Linron, the Turians would be serverly weakened causing the Volus to split from them, the Elcor and Hanar would be isolated to few worlds between them and the Batarians would be nothing more than desperate scavengers. As for Humanity with the likelyhood of the loss of their homeworld they would be defending what worlds they had left with a near viciousness, the post war galaxy would be very tense and would need strong unified leadership. But for now all effort had to be focused on the Reapers and ridding the galaxy of their cycles of insanity and that required every resource that could be acquired, be it soldiers, ships, equipment or even information, anything to bring this terrible war to a swift end. Liara was mulling over all this when she heard Joker announcing over the com that they had reached the Citadel


	51. Approaching Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liara goes to see Dr. Bryson

Liara took Shi'ala with her to Dr Bryson's lab and told her to wait by the sky-car while she spoke with Bryson, who was looking over notes of his latest project while his assistant, Hadley, was on a terminal finding files that Bryson had tasked him to retrieve. Bryson came over to Liara "Dr. T'Soni, a pleasure to meet you, I just wish it was under more fortunate circumstances", "likewise, Dr. Bryson, you said you might have found something that might help us in this war". The pair walked away from the consoles as Bryson began to speak "yes, about 20 years ago the Batarians found the corpse of a genetically created starship which they called the Leviathan of Dis, it had been killed by a single shot by some unknown enemy and that is the real Leviathan of Dis", "how does that help us", "Dr. T'Soni, up until 2148, you aliens were mere speculation and that was in my lifetime and now we're facing the greatest threat we've ever faced, what the Batarians found we now know to be a Reaper and if we can find what ever took it down that could help end this war". Liara realised the implications, the war could be ended quickly and she and Shepard could get on with their lives. However that was to be put hold when Hadley shot Bryson in a hypnotic stating "the darkness must not be breached". He then slowly turned to Liara still holding as if to shoot her as well when Shi'ala burst in as cast a Throw putting him down "Liara are you alright?"

Shi'ala had called in C-Sec, who took custody of Hadley, Shi'ala demanded to know why Hadley had shot Bryson and went to shoot Liara, he answered "it was cold, dark, like I was somewhere else", Liara told the C-Sec officers "he was in some kind of trance, fighting it, it was like something was controlling him", Hadley suddenly rolled his eyes up and in a trance like state stated "the darkness must not be breached" before collapsing unconscious, the C-Sec officers took him to get medical care. Liara looked around the lab for clues which told them of a connection to a Dr. Garneau on Mahavid and that the Reapers were searching throughout the galaxy for something. The pair took their leave of the Citadel and returned to the Normandy, Liara ordered Joker to take the Normandy to Mahavid before going to see Dr. Chakwas. When she got to med-bay Shepard was awake and greeted her as she came in, "hi, saff, what's happening, "good to see you finally got yourself up", Liara replied with a coy smile, Shepard gave a gentle laugh. Chakwas came over to the pair and asked Shepard "isn't there something you want to show Liara?", Liara lifted her gaze towards Chakwas, "what is it, doctor?", Shepard took out her hands and repeatedly retracted and extended her talon nails, when retracted they were just like human nails. Liara was shocked "how did this happen?", Chakwas answered "the gene to control them was dormant, it seemed like those who made this mutation intended for Shepard to control it, but their work was interrupted when Admiral Anderson got suspicious, I managed to activate the gene", "rather you than the ones who implanted the mutation, thank you, doctor"

They both shared a brief embrace with each other, they had both wanted more, but Shepard was still recovering and the Normandy was nearing Mahavid. Liara told Shepard about what happened in Bryson's lab and what they had discovered, "so you think this could be a weapon to help us against the Reapers" Shepard asked, Liara thoughtfully replied "perhaps, but we have to find Dr. Garneau to learn more", Shepard wished Liara luck on the mission as Liara went off to brief Shi'ala and Garrus. The Normandy was soon in orbit of Mahavid and the squad embarked on a shuttle to the surface of the mining asteroid. The shuttle soon reached the surface and the squad disembarked and Liara activated a lift down to the entrance, as they got nearer they could hear the familar, but awful, sounds of Reaper creatures, a Brute flanked by a pair of Marauders trying to dig through a wall with it's claw and a new type creature trying to biotically charge through a locked door. Both the door and the wall were holding, but Liara knew that creatures would eventually get through, "Garrus take out these Marauders, while we take out the Brute", Liara commanded, "you got it" Garrus replied as he aimed his Krysae at one of the Marauders heads. The Krysae was a sniper rifle that fired explosive rounds, so if one target was shot at and another was near by, both could be affected, Garrus took his shot and luckly both Marauders were disposed of, however it caught the attention of the Brute. The Brute lumbered foward and was about to charge with it's claw raised when it was hit by a Dark Channel and Warp combo from the 2 Asari, it wasn't enough to finish it, but it was enough to stagger it, allowing Garrus enough time to snipe it's head. The distraction caused by the trio of Reaper creatures had allowed the new creature to Charge at the group, it had missed but the after effect shock blast had caused the trio to be knocked down. The creature readied another Charge and team managed to roll away just in time and the creature preformed another Shock Blast but it was now too far away from the group for it to have too much of an effect. This allowed Shi'ala to take out her Suppressor and fire a few shots into the back of the creatures knee, disabling it's Charge ability, but not it's Shock Blast ability, "stand back", Liara ordered as she used a Lift to raise the creature in the air and followed with a Throw to smash the creature into a wall. The squad took out their weapons and finished the creature

Liara went over to the creature laying on the floor, it was anonymous like most Reaper creatures, but it was clear it was it was derived from a human male going by it's muscle and skull definition, the muscle matter was made bigger and the skull greatly re-enforced, it had cybernetic armour and implants in the shoulders, chest and knees. Garrus came over to Liara and seeing the creatures said sadly "they're making a menu out of them, aren't they?", Liara looked at him, "not quite appropriate, but you're right, I just wonder what will be left of the human's, if we survive this war, will they become full of resentment and hate?". Garrus said nothing, but he had to wonder and not just about what the humans might become post war, but what all races might be like after the war, he knew that the post war galaxy would have to be handled with extreme care as any slight could ignite another war. Liara told the others to accompany her into the mining facility, "these people are just civilians, they'll be sacred". When they entered the facility they noticed the people had an eerie calmness about them, Liara went to the reception area and asked the man behind the screen "where is Dr. Garneau?", the man replied in a monotone voice "there is no Dr. Garneau here". Liara confused about the man's demenour stated "there were Reapers trying to get in here", "are they gone", "we managed to get rid of them", the man still in eerie calmness said "oh, that will be all". Liara had noticed that a member of staff had sabotage the lift mechanism, but Garrus had used a repair drone to fix it, Liara knowing they weren't getting anywhere with the reception staff went to the lift, Shi'ala asked her "what is with these people", "I don't know, there is something very wrong here", "yeah, tell me about it"

The team entered the upper facility after they noticed that Garneau was on the users log, "why would they lie about Garneau being here?" Shi'ala asked and noticed the workers, human, Turian and Asari had the same eerie calmness about them as those in the reception area, Garrus leaned over to Liara "is it just me or do those people seem to be doing everything except mining", Liara just gave a concerned but puzzling look towards the workers. The team soon learned that Dr. Garneau had been taken to the med-bay and that a code was need for access, which they soon got, the team soon arrived at a med-bay window and saw a corpse on a table, Garrus asked "is that Dr. Garneau?, to which Shi'ala answered "I hope not or we've come a long way for nothing". A voice of a man from the darkened window spoke "I am Dr. Garneau", Liara aproached the man, "we need to get you out of here, the Reapers are searching for the artificat you have a connection, so get the artifact and lets get out of here. Garneau just looked around him muttering "Reapers, the darkness must not be breached", Liara was a puzzled looked asked "the darkness?". Suddenly Garneau started pounding on the window and his voice changed to deep booming growl "LEAVE THE ARTIFACT, YOU WILL NOT TAKE WHAT IS MINE", Garrus came over to Liara "I don't think we're taking to Garneau", "no, neither do I" she replied, she turned back to Garneau "you, you helped take down a Reaper, we could use your help", the entity replied "YOU BRING ONLY DEATH" and emitted a deafening sonic boom to shatter the glass that allowed Garneau to escape. "After him" Liara shouted as Garneau sealed doors behind them which need to reopened with an omi tool, "LEAVE THIS PLEACE", the entity cast back at them. Garneau sealed a third set of doors which leaded to docking area more tightly than the previous 2, Liara groaned "this will take too long, we need to find another way", she then spotted a ladder which lead to another access to the docking area

Once the team climbed to docking area they noticed a Reaperised Harvester fly toward the area where Garneau would be heading and Husks following behind it, Garrus quipped "where ever we go expect an 80% chance of Reapers", the 2 Asari just sighed at hs quip as Husks not following the Harvester started to come after them. The Husks were easily dealt with and the team made teir way to the docking area proper, Shi'ala spotted Garneau running towards an exit along an upper walkway balcony, "there he goes, let's get after him", the team were abou to do that when Reaper drop pods were launched releasing more Husks, this time accompanied by Marauders and a Ravager. Yet again the Husks proved to to be no opposition, but the Marauders with the Ravager caused the team to seek cover with a pair of Marauders placed on the walkway above them causing their cover to be comprimised. Garrus take out the pair with his Phaeston while Liara and Shi'ala used their biotics to take out the Marauders and the Ravager, Ravagers could fire out devastating concussion blasts, but they were physically slow and weak for beings of their size. When the last Marauder fell another 2 drop pods landed and a pair of horrifying screams put paid to any notions of an easy fight as a pair of Banshees started to biotically hop towards the team. Shi'ala and Liara were horrified by what the Reapers were doing to their people and there was only one Reaper creature more terrifying to Liara, even though she herself had yet to face them

Garrius fired an overload at the Banshees weakening their Barriers, but was hit by one of the Banshee's Warps causing him to seek refuge to recover, leaving the 2 Asari to deal with corrupted sisters. "Goddess guide us" prayed Shi'ala almost silently as she and Liara battled the Banshees, one of them had came near to Liara and swinging it's claws at her, Liara had only just managed to get away without injury. Shi'ala hit it with a Warp, while Liara used her Locust as she rolled away from the Banshee's grasp firing Warp rounds into the Banshees abdomen weakening its armour, Shi'ala followed up with a Lance and rolled out of the way of one of it's warp's, Liara kept firing her Locust until it was finished off. The other Banshee released a Barrier Burst that momentarily stunned the squad, but the unfortunate creature was no match for them and was soon sent to Athame. The team soon dispatched with the Ravager and Husks trying to break down the door to the area they needed to get to and released a repair drone to make repairs along the side of the docking bay, the had to fight Repear creatures along the way, but they managed to get the doors opened and proceed. They found Garneau near a shiny black sphere backing away from approaching Husks with the booming voice stating "THE DARKNESS MUST NOT BE BREACHED", Garrus shouted "look the artifact". The squad carefully shot off Husks as Garneau turned to them with the voice booming "TURN BACK" then he detonated an explosive destroying himself, the Husks and the artifact and knocking the team out of the way. After they got back up Garrus noticed a body on the floor, "that wasn't Garneau, this was and it looks like he's been dead for a few days, Liara was frustrated and knew she would have to contact Anne Bryson, Dr. Bryson's daughter. A team of the facilities miners came into the room looking and sounding normal, but confused, "what's going on?" one of them asked, Liara heard over the com "the Reapers have retreated", another of the miners asked "what's a Reaper?". The team looked at each stunned, "what year do you think this is?" asked Liara, an Asari miner answered "2176", "that was 10 years ago" replied Liara, the miners were stunned, Liara said over the com "get these people into light quarantine, we're coming back to the Normandy"

CODEX ENTRY

BLASTERS

Blasters are the heavy seige breakers of the Reaper armies. They are derived from human male Vanguards and have their muscularture greatly enhanced and padded with heavy armour and cybernetics. Their main abilities are the Biotic Charge and the Shock Blast, a cross between a Barrier Burst and a foward firing Shockwave. They are used to bring down enemy fortifcations


	52. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy crew search for Anne Bryson and Liara comes to face to face with a fearful foe

The shuttle soon docked in the Normandy's shuttle bay and Liara went to med-bay to get check out and to meet Shona, who was getting discharged. Shona greeted Liara with a hug "hey there, you, I'm glad you're back" she welcomed Liara warmly, this was the first time she could physically embrace her fiance so tightly since the incident with the Miranda-Provocateur. That incident still gave Liara nightmares, especially one where a Reaper attack is not so much attack on Thessia, but is more attacking her mother's estate near Armali. She sees various Reaper creatures tearing her home apart all being lead by one stand out creature, her Shona, now turned into a Provocateur staring straight at her with these dead red eyes and purple and red blood dripping from her killers smile jaw. The Shona-Provocateur is not fully naked like other Reaper creatures, but is dressed in an Earth style wedding dress being attended by 4 Banshees each dressed in Asari bridesmaids dresses. The 4 Banshees are not anonymous like other Banshees, she recognises them, they are Shi'ala, Samara, Sha'ira and Tevos. The Shona-Provocateur speaks not with Shona's soft sweet voice, but with a guttural screech, it says to Liara "come", Liara is rooted to the spot in terror, but she is forcibly dressed in an Asari wedding dress and brought forth to the wedding podium by 2 more Banshees, who she recognises as her parents, Benezia and Aethyta. After a horrific ceremony that is a mockery of human and Asari wedding customs, the Shona-Provocateur forcibly kisses Liara, which causes Liara's skin to turn grey, her limbs to stretch and crests to contort and finally to scream out as the new Banshee of the Shona-Provocateur's personal harem

Despite the nightmares, Liara still had a longing, a wanting, a need to be physically with Shona, a need that now could be satisfied, so after the check ups Liara told Shi'ala to debrief the Normandy on what happened on the mission while she grabbed Shona and more or less dragged her to their cabin for a more private and through debriefing and not necessarily about the mission. The pair emerge from their cabin looking more contented and happy than they had been in weeks as the Normandy was approaching the citadel. Shepard was briefed on the actual mission on the way to Bryson's lab. When they arrived they noticed one of the Leviathan orbs in a display cabinet, "Shi'ala raise the shield on that thing" ordered Liara, Shepard asked "is that one of the things that took over the miners at that asteroid?, "yes, siame, they were entranced for over a decade" answered Liara, "but now we have to find Anne Bryson" she continued. Shi'ala found a vid-com from Anne Bryson to her father and pressed play "I am at the dig site at the Pylos Nebula, Reaper scouts have been sniffing round, gotta go", the recording ended. Shepard hearing it said "we've got to find what planet the dig site is on, "on it" Liara replied and soon enough they found the location of the dig site, it was on Namakli, an abandoned Asari colony that was left to the Vorcha

On the way to the planet Shepard and Liara had a talk about the future they would have with each other, "ceart-leth" started Shepard and continued "after this war is finished, I am thinking of retiring from both the Alliance and the Spectres, so I'll be around more full time, that's if you want me to be and not feel like you'll get sick of the sight of me" she said with a mix of jovality, intrepidation and worry. For Liara hearing Shepard saying these words were almost as if pure joy was being poured over her, no more would she have to go through the hell of seeing her beloved go off on a mission and worry that this might be the time when she didn't come back. Liara had 3 years of the feeling and it tore her soul to shreds, she would not go through that again if she could help it, even if she had to put a collar and chain on Shepard and not one of those light ones she sometimes puts on Shepard in their roleplay with each other. Liara smiled and rested her head in Shepard's right shoulder and simply said "I love you", now they just had the war to get through

The shuttle tore through Namakli's sky being chased by a Reaperised Harvester, the shuttle was nearly hit by missiles fired by the winged creature. Cortez not seeing an option or a place to land shouted over to the squad of Shepard, Liara and Shi'ala, "you're gonna have to jump out here, I have to lose this thing", Shepard and the Asari leaped on to the unstable platform as Cortez tore away still being pursued by the Harvester. "We've gotta get to Anne Bryson", Shepard shouted over the noise of the weather, the Reaperised Harvesters in the sky and the drop pods landing on the cliffside complex. The team had been contacted by Anne Bryson and were about to find a place to pick her up when they were chased off by the Harvester. Bryson contacted Shepard after the landed "they crawling all over up here, please hurry" she pleaded in an understandibly panicked voice. The team set off, but the drop pods landing were making the environment more unstable, but they had 3 blessings, the Harvesters were not appearing to do anything more than hang in the sky, the Reaper creatures being dropped were Husks and Cannibals and for the most part they were heading in the opposite direction of the team. The team moved foward in the direction of Bryson's position only having to take out a few Cannibals, the first major obstacle was when a prefab collapsed causing their direct path to be blocked. "We need to find another way", Shepard commanded, the team cut through the collapsed prefabs until the gor to a raised walkway which lead to the lift entrance, Shepard called for the lift, which only came halfway down. "Ann, the lift's stuck" Shepard called over the com, Bryson replied "I know, I am opening a door to allow access to a higher level, but you'll have to climb up", after gaining acess the team managed to get to a ridge after fighting a few Cannibals. Their path was blocked at the edge of the ridge and they had to raise a bridge to gain access, "Shi'ala activate the bridge", Shepard ordered, "on it" Shi'ala replied. As they waited for the bridge to rise a drop pod landed releasing a batch of Husks which was met with the usual, predictible result, a moment after the Husks were eliminated, another drop pod landed releasing only one Reaper creature, which heralded it's arrival with a terrifying screech, Liara glared in horror, one of the things that caused her so many nightmares over the last few weeks was now here, a Provocateur was now here near them

The Provocateur turned to look at the squad and focused on Shepard and with a triumphant screech it changed the claws on its left hand into injector needles and started to move towards her. Shepard screamed "I CAN HEAR THAT THING SPEAKING TO ME IN MY HEAD" as she almost bent over, "it's saying....", Liara interupted and said what she could hear the Provocateur saying to Shepard, "come, it is time for you to join your sisters". Liara had noticed what the creature was saying to Shepard through the link as well as being to be able to audibly hear it as did Shi'ala. Liara screamed "BY THE GODDESS, YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME", Liara had seen footage of these creatures taken by Shepard, but that could not in anyway compete with the terror of seeing one in the flesh. Liara felt revulsion, anger, sadness, pity and fear, all in one horrible package at seeing the creature, here was a young woman, perhaps in her mid 20's to early 30's going by what she could tell from the creatures face that still had it's original human appearance, that was taken and transformed into this terror. Had some parent hoping to be able to reason with their daughter been torn apart by that once loving daughter, had a sibling been shredded by a sister that they grew up with or had a child been ripped to pieces by the very person that once would have been cared by it? These thoughts ran through Liara's head at light speed and it made her hate the Reapers even more, not that they weren't enough reasons already, but the one thought that was dominant in her mind was that she would not allow what nearly happened with the Miranda-Provocateur to happen again

The creature started to biotically glide towards them and Liara shouted over "SHI'ALA, HELP ME DESTROY THIS THING, HELP ME PROTECT SHONA", Shi'ala called out "I'm with you". Liara noticed Shepard starting to move towards the creature and used the link to send a message [stay back, siame, let us deal with this thing], Shepard replied [it's OK, saff, I can help handle it], Liara pratically shouted through the link [NO, SIAME, this thing is seeking to convert you, it won't do that to us, please siame, let us fight this creature, you see to the bridge, please I can't lose you]. With that Shepard very reluctantly left the 2 Asari to fight the Provocateur, who launched some Biotic Constrictors at the team, which were deflected by a Barrier produced by Shi'ala. Liara fired a Warp at the creature, which deftly avoided it by gliding to the side and countering with an Electric Blast that only narrowly avoided Liara's head. "LIARA" screamed Shi'ala in panic, thankfully Liara was able to reply "I'm alright, Shi'ala", "Thank the goddess" stated Shi'ala in relief. Shi'ala tried a Slam on the creature, which only momentarily worked as it soon recovered thanks to it's barriers and soon sped its way to Shi'ala and almost tore at her armour with it's claws, but Shi'ala was able to keep one step ahead of the meleeing beast, thanks to decades of huntress training. The Provocateur screeched away in frustration as it tried to reach Shi'ala, it was a sight of terror and pity mixed in one abominal package that could only end in tragedy, just the tragedy of having to put a tortured soul to rest was a preferable tragedy than the alternative 

Shepard still at the bridge controls shouted over to Liara and Shi'ala "you'll have to use biotic combinations to take it down, if you don't it will regenerate it's barriers and health faster than you can recharge". With that Shi'ala released a Dark Channel on the creature and shouted over to Liara "while it's still infected, hit it with a Warp", Liara did so causing a biotic explosion that helped to cause significant damage on the creature. The damage, however not was enough to finish it as it retaliated by hitting Shi'ala with a Warp of it's own, knocking down her barrier and flinging her down on the ground. "SHI'ALA" Liara screamed in dismay as she watched her mentor and friend collapse on the rocky ground and was almost hit herself when the Provocateur flung another Warp when Shepard rolled her out of the way. "SHONA, what are you doing?, I can't allow you to face that thing, I can't lose you" Liara panicked, Shepard sternly, but lovingly replied "Liara, you won't lose me, but we need to take this thing down and you can't do that on your own, ceart-leth", Liara shakingly replied "OK, what's the plan? Shepard answered "I'm going to hit it with a Reave, you hit with something to cause a biotic detonation", Shepard cast a Reave on the creature while Liara summoned her biotic energy until she shone a radiant blue then released it in Barrier Burst causing the detonation that effect the Provocateur so badly that it was child's play for Shepard to finish it off with her Locust.

Shepard helped Shi'ala back to her feet after administrating some medi-gel while Liara took an eezo cube to build herself back up. Liara full of relief ran over to Shona and Shi'ala and held them close "thank the goddess that thing is dead and you're safe", Shepard chuckled "I don't know about safe, Liara, we still have to find Anne Bryson". Liara shook herself aware "of course, siame, I am just glad that thing is dead, Shepard gave her an understanding smile and went to take a picture of the fallen Provocateurs face for identification. Shepard turned to her squad "come on we have a mission to complete"


	53. Secrets Revealing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad continues the mission to retrieve Ann Bryson

The squad traveled across the raised bridge to get the far side of the camp, the battle against the Provocateur had taken much out of them, but they needed to press on to reach Ann Bryson. They were hardly around the corner of the adjoining prefap when they were attacked by an Ogre, firing it's rockets at the team, "fuck, if it's not one thing", complained Shepard very loudly as she deployed an Invasion to disrupt the Ogre's firing mechanism, the team then responded by blasting the creature in the head with their respective side arms. The former Krogan collapsed and the team was able to proceed climbing the broken walkway to get to the lift. Shepard pressed the button to call for the lift, which descended down to them, but some debris stopped the lift's descent one floor above them. Shepard called Ann "the lift's stuck", she replied "yeah, I know, damn junk, you'll have to climb up to the next, I'll open a door to give you access. A door which allowed the team access to a part of the cliffside that could be used to travel up was opened and the team entred through

The howling wind was another obstacle that was slightly hindering the team as it was shaking the looser flooring connecting the prefabs, Liara commentated on it "this wind is making it a little harder for us", Shi'ala and Shepard both agreed. The unstableness of the encampment was also proving a hazard for the Reaper creature as well, as for a time the team only had to contend with the odd Cannibal or a Ravager that managed to place itself on a upper platform and began firing down at the team causing them to seek cover. "we need to take this thinb out before we topple of the side of this cliff" called out Shepard, on it" replied Shi'ala as she used armour piercing rounds to quickly take it out. The team managed to get up to a more stable and higher platform, but their Reaper problems got worse when a group of Husks came at them followed by a Brute

Normally Husks would be no problem to a trio of powerful biotics, but with a Brute charging right at them, swing it's massive claw, only narrowingly missing Shi'ala's head, this made them more of a threat. Shi'ala had managed to duck and roll out of the way, but that put her in the path of a Husk that managed to grab her, the growling creature was trying to tear at her face, but Shepard used a Lash to pull it off Shi'ala. Liara was trying to deploy a Singularity to contain the Husks, but she had to keep dodging the charging Brute. "HERE, BIG GUY, COME AFTER ME" Shepard shouted at the rampaging brute to distract it from Liara, the Brute changed it's target to Shepard and began to chase after her, this gave Liara the oppurtunity she needed to release the Singularity trapping many of the Husks within. This allowed Shepard and Shi'ala to take down the Brute with a Dark Channel and Warp biotic explosion. The team proceed on until a Harvester landed near them, "fuck" Sheapard spluttered out as they got ready to deal with the Harvester, luckly after only a few shots it departed as if called away, allowing the team to reach the lift to bet to Ann Bryson

Ann Bryson was all alone in what was left of her outlook post, she asked the squad "did any of the others make it?", Shepard with regret answered "no, you're the only one left". Ann just nodded her head as they made their way out. They carefully made their way across the cliff until they came across a painting of what looked like a Reaper acting as a protector to a race of beings, Shepard asked "Ann, these pointings?, Ann answered "yes, they are much older than we originally thought, they clearly show a Reaper, but not acting like anyother Reaper, it seems like it's protecting the people some how". They were interrupted by a noise from coming near by, they went to see what it was and found a group of Instigators investigating a Leviathan orb. "What are they doing" Shepard asked, Ann answered "they've managed to get the orb to work, that's something I've never managed to...", She suddenly started walking towards the orbs saying in a loud voice that was not totally her own "THEY'VE LEARNED TOO WELL, THE DARKNESS MUST NOT BE BREACHED". Shepard ordered the orb destroyed, eliminating the Instigators around it, this drew in Cannibals and Marauders to their location, Shepard ordered for an evacuation, but Cortez told her that a Harvester was blocking the way. Liara and Shi'ala fought off the Cannibals and Marauders, while Shepard handled the Harvester, which was made easier by the fact that the creature landed near a number of explosive barrels, Shepard shot the barrels causing the creature to explode. They ran into the shuttle, where Shepard had the unpleasant task of telling Ann about what had happened to her father as they made their way back to the Normandy

Liara grabbed Shepard as tightly as she could and cried, Shepard try to sooth her Promised "hey there, ceart-leth, everything's alright, we're all here, no need to cry", Liara was exasperated "NO NEED TO CRY?, I HEARD WHAT THAT THING WAS SAYING TO YOU, WHAT IT CALLED YOU". Shi'ala turned to the pair and said to them, "yeah, I heard it too, it called you sister, Shepard", Liara turned to Shi'ala "you heard it too?", "yes". Shepard was relieved "so other people can hear it too, thank the stars, I thought it was all in my head and that Liara could hear it only through the link", Liara almost wanted to slap Shepard "THANK THE STARS, HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?". Shepard told Liara "when I was on Garvug and the thing that used to be Miranda had me trapped, I heard it saying to me "soon, sister, you will be one of us and join us, I thought it was all in my head, it's good to know that it wasn't", Liara looked at Shepard and smiled


	54. The Darkness Must Be Breached Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The secrets are revealed and Shepard faces a consequence of her past

Shepard and Liara went back to Bryson's lab to talk to Ann, when they got to the lab, they heard sobbing coming from the upper bedroom. Shepard went up to find Ann at the foot of the bed crying, "I am sorry, we'll come back another time". She turned to leave when Ann replied "no, it's alright, don't go, I'm just think about dad", Shepard and Liara both gave their condolences. The left the upper bedroom to go down to the lab, Ann was still in deep thought about what happened to her father when Shepard commentated "I am surprised your father managed to get his hands on a piece of a Reaper", looking at the piece of Sovereign's hull. Ann replied "yes your claims validated years of work", Shepard then asked "were steps taken to prevent indoctrination?", "yes, the thing was well shielded and we all took psyche tests, but it seems like, thanks to Leviathan, that I am indoctrinated anyway, might as well br a Rachni drone waiting for orders from the queen". Ann went on to explain how her research into the Rachni could help with how Leviathan uses the orbs to make contact

The group was joined by Lt.Vega, Shepard greeted him, "hey, James, what you doing here", "hey, lola, heard you're closing in on the Reaper killer, anything that's got those bastards worried has got my attention". Vega went to play with the Husk head experiment on the desk in front of him, "hey, commander, have you seen this thing?, this is great", he went to play with it some more before saying to Shepard "you know, if no one claims this, we take it with us", Shepard replied "alright, I'll put it in the sky-car", Vega replied with a very enthusiastic "nice". Ann and Liara then joined Shepard and Vega in the galaxy map room where the shielded Leviathan orb was stored, Ann came up with a plan to let the orb take hold of her so they could communicate with Leviathan. Shepard was quite uneasy with this idea, "Ann, are you sure about this?", "yes, we need to talk to Leviathan, so let it talk through me". A chair was brought in for Ann

The shield on the orb was dropped, Shepard asked Ann, "are you getting anything?, "I feel a chill, I am getting..uuuhhh", a gutteral voice came from Ann's mouth and Shepard knew that Leviathan was communicating with them. Liara told Shepard "keep them communicating and I'll lock on to the signal, Shepard turned to Leviathan, "I've found you and the Reaper's are right behind me", "YOU HAVE BROUGHT THEM, YOU ARE A THREAT", "so are you, we can stop this, we can win this war", "THERE IS NO WAR, THERE IS ONLY THE HARVEST", "that's where you're wrong, we cand this", "THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN". Shepard turned to Liara, who gave her a nod, Shepard told Vega "raise the shield", Vega activate the shield and severed communication with Leviathan, she then turned to Ann, "are you alright?, Ann answered "I will be"

Liara told Shepard "I tracked the signal to one of 2 systems in Sigurd's Cradle, we can go when you're ready", Shepard replied "not yet, I want to check on things in the refugee camp", Liara offered to join her. They made their way to the refugee camp in Docking Bay E-24, which was full of Human, Salarian, Batarian, Turian and Asari refugees from the various colony worlds that had been attacked by the Reapers. Shepard watched the volunteer workers help with the refugees and felt a sense of pride that despite what was happening, people still rallied round to help each other, then they heard it, an arguement between a human woman and a Krogan female. They went to investigate and what they saw stunned Liara and angered Shona, "BY THE GODDESS", Liara shouted out in surprise at what she saw, in the care of the human woman was a younger human woman and a male Human/Krogan hybrid child of about 6 years old. Alison Tait was the first official human woman to give birth to a hybrid when she gave birth to Moira, but it was later found that she wasn't really the first human woman to give birth to hybrid children, others were found either in hiding or rescued from sex slave rings or had been left abandoned by slavers and others born from consensual couplings. They were less than 150 such children in the galaxy, all born from human females, it changed the relationship humans had with the galaxy and each hybrid child treated like a precious commodity

The Krogan female spat out to the human woman "that is my grandson, your daughter is not fit to be his mother, look at her, she lives like a child herself", Marlene was sat in a corner, cowering, singing nursery rhymes to herself. The human woman retorted "only because of what the filthy bastard of a son of yours did to her, he and a bunch of rock lizard scum gang raped her, I don't know how you managed to get the DNA results that confirm that bastard's the father, but I do know this, you'll never get anywhere near my grandson. Marlene's mother had been away on assignment when the Perun's Bolt raid happened and Marlene was taken, a few months after her rescue, Marlene had given birth to a hybrid child. Marlene's mother knew enough sympathetic contacts to keep it under wraps and took care of her grandson herself as Marlene as well as suffering the obvious trauma was no longer mentally capable of looking after a child. The Krogan female started to become angry, "LIES, MY SON WOULD NEVER...", she was interrupted by Shepard, who had extracted her talon nails, and said very loudly "I SAW WHAT YOUR SON AND HIS SCUMBAG FRIENDS DID TO HER, I SAW HOW THEY GET OFF ON HER SCREAMS OF AGONY, I WAS PART OF THE TEAM THAT RAIDED THAT SHITHOLE THEY WERE RAPING HER IN, WE HAD TO CARRY HER OUT ON AN E-BED, YOUR SON GOT CARRIED OUT IN A BODYBAG AFTER WE FINISHED WITH HIM, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE WAY HE BEGGED FOR HIS LIFE, SO KROGAN". The Krogan female roared and charged at Shepard, who cast out a Throw, flinging the Krogan female into a wall

A squad of C-Sec officers ran up to investigate the commotion and recognised Shepard, one of the Turian officers asked "Spectre Shepard, what's going on?", Shepard answered with distain "this piece of crap was threatening this family, take her to a holding facility, Spectre authority". The guard took the dazed Krogan into custody and Shepard turned to Marlene's mother when Marlene came out of her shell after seeing the Krogan female being taken away, "look, mummy, it's auntie Shepard, yaahhh" she happily called out, then she saw Liara and she began to cower in fear, "nasty blue lady, make nasty blue lady, make go away, mummy", Shepard looked at Liara, who said "I'll go to Councilor Tevos office and meet up with Shi'ala. Shepard turned back to the mother, who was almost in tears, "she was doing so well, almost getting back to the bright young woman she was, then all this happened. Shepard had to do something, she couldn't leave them to fester in that camp, she contacted Councillor Osaba and told him of the situation, he arranged for the family to stay in an apartment on the Presidium, after they were settled in Shepard went to meet up with Liara in Tevos office

CODEX ENTRY

E-BED

E-Beds or elevated beds are medical beds that use mass effect fields to hover. They are used by medics to stretcher out patients that cannot be mobile under their own power


	55. The Darkness Must Be Breached Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy heads to Sigurds Cradle

Shepard went to Tevos office to get Liara, she greeted Tevos, who enquired "Liara tells me that there was an incident in the refugee camp", Shepard answered "yes, a Krogan female was trying to take a hybrid child away from it's family", "yes, Liara told me that it had a Krogan father and that the Krogan female was the paternal grandmother". Shepard's whole body stiffened at hearing this, "that bastard was no father to that child, he was one of a bunch of lowlife who gang raped the poor girl that was the mother and the so called Krogan grandmother has no rights under human law". Tevos with as much discretion as she could muster informed Shepard, "but the child is half Krogan and it be argued that his welfare could partly come under Krogan law", Shepard, trying to keep calm, replied "councillor, with all due respect, I don't care, I will not allow a rapist or their family to benefit in any way", before she could stop herself she went on to say "I will no longer allow aliens to take advantage of my people". That took the air out of the room as Tevos and Liara looked stunned at what Shepard had said

They had never heard Shepard speak like that before, in terms of us and them, with the us meaning humanity and the them meaning everyone else, they knew Shepard tried to see the other races like she did her own, but they also knew that everyone had a breaking point where they had to contend for their own first and to hell with all others and this included Shepard. Liara was the first to break the silence, "Shona, you can't think that we're all out to use you, can you?", Shepard started to realise the impact of her words and felt almost contrite, "no, ceart-leth, I did not mean for the outburst to hurt you or you, councillor, but I cannot take back what I said. we have suffered the Turians trying to exterminate us, the Batarians trying to destroy our colonies and enslave the colonists, receiving very little help from the Citadel Council when we have needed it". She went on to vent her spleen, "we are considered either a bit of a joke or a dangerous threat by the other races, I've been running around like a blue arsed fly doing things to save the other races while my own is being exterminated, at best estimates we've probably already lost over 3 billion of our people already, reports that we can recieve are saying that our homeworld is being turned into a charred cinder". She sounded faint as she continued, "I am older than my people's interaction with aliens and I am still only in what would be called in both our peoples terms, a maiden". She let that sink in before she continued "and in the time frame of my career alone, I have seen wonders beyond dreams, beauty beyond belief, wisdom beyond perception and love beyond measure", she looked at Liara with loving eyes as she said that last part, "but I have also seen hate beyond reason, hypocrisy beyond actualisation and delusion beyond arrogance, I am sorry councilor, but witnessing the potential destruction of my people has started to get to me". Shepard was struggling to keep her emotions in check as she thought about what was happening to her people and to Liara's as well as the other races, "we are being forced to fight and kill our own loved ones, all races are facing this horror, but mine far more than all others". Liara went up to Shepard and took the now emotionally distraught Shepard in her embrace, as Shepard cried into her shoulder, Liara looked over to the councillor who gave a kind nod of understanding

Shepard looked into Liara's face as she said, "councillor, without this beautiful, kind, clever, wise beyond her years, maiden, I would have already have been lost to despair and I will do anything within my abilities to protect her and her and your people". Shepard then turned to Tevos, "but know this, the same also applies to my own people and don't mean only against the threat of the Reapers, I mean against all threats and tell your matriarchs this, if they do anything to hinder this war effort, then their fates will match Udina's". Liara was shocked, "Shona, you can't seriously mean to threaten the Matriarch's like that", Shona replied "oh, but I do, I shot Udina because he was a threat to my people and the galaxy, the matriarchs by doing nothing are just as a big a threat to your own people, Liara". Liara had to cocede to these facts as Shepard finally calmed herself and apologised to the councillor for making a scene, the councillor just replied that she understood and Shona and Liara made their departure to go back to the Normandy

Once back in their cabin on the Normandy, Shepard felt the need to open up to Liara, "I am sorry for causing a scene in there, Liara", Liara replied "yes, you did, but it was more than understandable and also what you said was very true, Shona, no one could seen what you did today in that docking bay knowing it's origins and lived through it without getting upset", "yeah, maybe, but that didn't mean that I should have taken it out on you or the councillor", "no, you shouldn't have, but it was along time in coming, I am just glad it was that and not something far worse later on down the line". Shepard looked at the beautiful blue eyes of her promised and said "I love you" and went in for a passionate kiss, which Liara reciprocated, after some time with the kiss Liara reached to stroke one of Shona's breast, to which Shona gave a slight moan of pleasure. Liara helped to relieve Shona of her blouse and bra and then went in to stroke one of Shona's nipples with her tongue, Shona reciprocated by stroking the back of Liara's head crests. Liara then went on to gently push Shona back on to the bed, kissing her siame's body as she did so, causing Shona's body to tense with pleasure. Liara unbottoned Shona's leather trousers, slowly taking them off, along with her underwear, she then softly parted Shona's leg's, placing her head between them , using her tongue to caress Shona's mound. They needed this, they needed time alone, time intimate with each other, something that was hard to come by because of this war, they spend all the time they could with each other until they reached Sigurds Cradle

The first system they went to visit was the Mil system, it wasn't one of the 2 systems where Leviathan might be, but it had 2 Asari colonies, Chalkos and Selvos. They saw that Reapers only took a few people and bombed both planets from orbit killing everyone else who lived on these worlds, Liara almost burst into tears when she saw what happened to these worlds, tens of millions of people dead and for what? It wasn't like the Reapers had a machine vs flesh mentality, they like their creatures were a fusion of the 2 and they seemed to have a lower regard for synthetic life than did for organic life, if Sovereign's disregard for the Geth was anything to go by and their dismissive "it's beyond your comprehension" answer that the Reaper gave when questioned why they did what they were doing indicated more that they themselves didn't fully understand why they did what they did, for the answers they gave felt that they were scripted from a mantra and not from awareness of actually knowing the reason why within oneself. They managed to download a copy of a detailed Reaper creature neural network study from Chalkos and moved on

They went to the first system that might have Leviathan, the Lenal system, they didn't find any trace of Leviathan, but they did find another massacred colony, Triinta Petra. The Turian colony had it's biota deliberately poisoned by the Reapers, leaving the population to starve to death, there was nothing they could do for the people of the colony, so they moved on to the next system in their search for Leviathan. The soon reached the Psi Tophet system and got a signal from Despoina, they boarded a shuttle to surface. The vast mojarity of the planet's surface was ocean and the signal was coming from beneath the ocean, Cortez had told the squad, "you're not going to like this, the signal coming from below the surface". Shepard replied "from below the surface, how will we get down there?" Cortez told her "this baby is designed to be able to fly in 1000 atmospheres, I'll guess we'll find out", just then the shuttle was hit by a pulse. Cortez managed to steer the ship enough to crash land on the hull of an old ship, "that pulse has knocked out our systems, I am going to need time to repair". The squad of Shepard, Liara and Shi'ala went on to investigate the ship, they found the data logs and skeletal remains of the old crew, Shepard asked "any idea how old these are? Shi'ala replied "quite old, considering the lack of further decay", the team then found an orb, to which Shepard quipped "now we know why no one leaves, destroy it". The team went around destroying the other orbs and went on investigating the ship


	56. The Darkness Must Be Breached Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard finally meets Leviathan

The squad made their way across the hull of the old, scuttled ship, floating on the ocean, they discovered the wreckage of an old Atlas mech, Shepard commentated "it's not wearing Cerberus colours" when they heard the loud blare of a Reaper captial ship. Liara shouted out "the Reapers they were right behind us" as the Reaper dropped drop pods on to the ship, fortunately they were mostly Husks and Cannibals, unfortunately, they were a lot of them swarming the confined space. The team blasted away at the creatures, which caused the Reaper to drop more advanced creatures, Marauders and Brutes. Although Brutes like Husks were melee creatures, they far more powerful and their claw hand could easily pick up a human or Asari and smash them on to the ground and in the confined space they were in it was more difficult to evade them. "Have you got that shuttle fixed yet? We could do with the help", Shepard said to Cortez over the com

The creatures kept dropping from the Reaper on to the floating platform and the team started to find themselves surrounded, "anytime you're ready would be great" Shepard radioed to Cortez, "just a minute, got it" he replied as he got the shuttle airborne. The creatures were advancing on the team, normally the creatures that were advancing on them would be little trouble for 3 powerful biotics, but the lack of space on the floating platform turned a small problem into a serious concern. The creatures were starting to crowd them as they moved in tighter to each other they were almost back to back when they heard that Cortez had managed to lift off and started using the shuttle's cannons on the creatures allowing the squad the opportunity to run to the other side, which they took, but as they did another pulse hit the shuttle and soon crash landed again, this time on the other side of the platform

The shuttle managed to land safely on the raised platform thanks to Cortez's piloting skills, but it would take a while to repair again and the pulse that had shot the shuttle down twice now was another problem that needed to be adressed. The squad made to Cortez's position, where Cortez told Shepard of the situation, "there's no damage to the shuttle, but we have a problem?", "what is it?", "it's that pulse it won't let us take off". Liara and Shi'ala were finishing off the last of the Reaper creatures when they heard Shepard saying "then the way home is through Leviathan". Shi'ala turned to Liara stunned, "are we really considering this?", Liara not so surprised replied, "I guess we are". Cortez hand a cylinder power cell to Shepard and told her, "here, commander take tyis power cell to one of the power ports and come back for another to put in another port, that should open up the bay doors, so you can get to that mech".

The Reaper dropped more creatures on to the platform, Liara shouted out, "go, we''ll deal with the Reapers", Shepard charged past the Cannibals and Brutes to install the first power source. She needed to go back and forth three times, with the creatures moving ever closer each time, she managed to get access to the mech just in time as her ceart-leth was about to be overwhelmed by brutes. She used the mechs guns to blast the creatures to pieces and moved the mech towards Liara and Cortez. Cortez checked out the mech while Shi'ala asked her, "Shepard, are you sure about this?", "I'll be fine, besides it's the only way out of here". Liara came up to her and in a hushed whisper of love and fear she said "Shona", Shepard gave her a loving smile, "don't worry, I'll be back", Liara give a faint smile of hope and a nod as Shepard closed the canopy and dived the mech into the ocean

The mech slowly descended through the depths until it hit the sea floor, Shepard put the mech on reserve power to perserve power for the ascent back to the surface. She also made a log in case of something going wrong, the sea at this depth had little lighting except for the biolumence of the giant jellyfish and the mech's own lights. Shepard guided the mech across the sea floor, first drop down a small depth, she kept on following the probe's signal to another drop, this a time a much larger one, by this point she was approximately 10000 fet under the surface. She found the probe and kept on guiding the mech until she was stopped by the sudden rising of a giant sea creature that looked like a fully organic Reaper, the creature spoke to her, "YOU HAVE COME TOO FAR, YOU HAVE BREACHED THE DARKNESS", she replied "I had to find you, you killed a Reaper"

"THEY ARE THE ENEMY, ONE THAT SEEKS OUR EXTERMINATION" it said or more like emitted in a deep booming voice, Shepard was stunned, "I thought you were a Reaper", "THEY ARE ONLY ECHOES, WE EXISTED LONG BEFORE", "then what are you?", "SOMETHING MORE". The creature then entered Shepard's mind to communicate with her telepathically, she found herself on all fours in a barren environment that was covered by water an inch deep. The creature now appeared as one of the people that Shepard met during her search for Leviathan, it spoke to her, "YOUR MIND BELONGS TO ME, BREATH, THROUGH YOUR MEMORIES YOUR NATURE WILL BE REVEALED TO US". The creature would keep changing into the different people she met during her search, "LONG AGO, WE WERE THE APEX RACE, EVERY RACE WE ENCOUNTERED BECAME TOOLS OF OUR WILL, BUT THEY CREATED MACHINES THAT THEN DESTROYED THEM, SO A SOLUTION WAS NEEDED, TRIBUTE DOES NOT FLOW FROM A DEAD RACE". Shepard kept listening as Leviathan continued, "AN INTELLIGENCE WAS DESIGNED TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF ORGANIC-SYNTHETIC CONFLICT, IT SEARCHED THE COSMOS LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION AND WHEN IT FOUND ONE IT THEN BETRAYED US". Shepard was beside herself, "solution?, that thing has done nothing but murder for the last billion years anc stiffled organic development and you designed even after you saw what happened to the other races?"

"THE INTELLIGENCE WAS SEEN AS SIMPLY ANOTHER TOOL, WE COULD NOT HAVE PREDICTED IT WOULD HAVE TURNED AGAINST US AND USE OUR ESSENCE TO CREATE THE FIRST REAPER, YOU CALLED IT HARBINGER", Shepard replied :then you have help us end this madness", "WE HAVE STUDIED YOU, YOU HAVE MORE STRENGTH THAN THOSE PREVIOUSLY BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN, THE REAPERS WILL HARVEST THE REST, WE WILL KEEP YOU AS A SERVANT OF OUR NEEDS". Shepard protested, "wait, if you let me go, we can stop this, you're responsible for this, if the Reapers don't get you now, they'll try again, they won't stop, ever", Shepard was soon left on her own. After a small period the creature came back, "WE WILL FIGHT, BUT NOT FOR YOU, WE WILL MAKE THE REAPERS PAY TRIBUTE AND THAT TRIBUTE WILL BE IN BLOOD", Leviathan then released Shepard to go back to the surface

The squad was continuing to battle Husks and Brutes when Shepard's mech returned to the platform, Shepard fell out of the mech on to the floor and was about to be picked off by a pair of Brutes when something caused them to turn on each other. Shi'ala rushed over to Shepard and helped her into the shuttle, Cortez then took off, but the Reaper charged at them, "REAPER INBOUND" shouted out Cortez, but the Reaper was hit by a pulse that caused it to crash into the sea. Liara was frantically trying to revive her bondmate and Shepard became conscious she said quietly in relief and worry, "never do that again. Shepard then got a video-com from Ann Bryson, "did you meet Leviathan?", Shepard replied "yes, I did", "was it worth it?", "I don't know", Shepard left the conversation about Leviathan there as the shuttle made it's way back to the Normandy


	57. Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard contemplates the meeting with Leviathan

Shepard was once again in the care of Dr. Chakwas, it was becoming a regular feature, "I should be handing you out loyalty points", Dr. Chakwas joked out, Shepard gave a short laugh as Chakwas continued her treatment. When the treatment was done she headed off to the Q.E.C room to talk to Admiral Hackett, she activated the communication device and a holographic image of Admiral Hackett appeared before her, "I have read your report, the researchers here have started to call your research The Leviathan Codex, it will takes years to go through it, this changes everything we know on galactic history". Shepard standing to attention replied "and it also proves once and for all that the Reapers are just machines gone amok and now that we know they had a beginning, we should provide them with an end", "Commander, on that we can agree, see to it", with that the communication ended

Shepard made her way back to her cabin, where she was ambushed by Liara, who pinned her against a bulkhead wall, Shepard was taken by pleasant surprise, "hey, a bit tense, aren't we?", she joked, "tense?", Liara replied in a harsh, but lustful voice, "I almost lost you, today, there's only room for one tentacled being in your mind and that's me, you belong to me, you are mine". Shepard was about to reply when Liara locked her lips in a hard, but long passionate kiss, her thoughts of protest simply melt away as she succumbed to the blue beauty. Liara peeled off Shepard blouse to reveal her black bra, which was unclipped by Liara to expose her pert chest, Liara could see Shepard's nipples harden already by the thought of what was about to happen, she took one of Shepard's breasts and began to use her tongue to stimulate the hardened nipple. Shepard gave out a faint whimper of pleasure as she stroked Liara's crests, while Liara gently pulled at her nipples using her teeth, Liara soon moved on to using her mouth and hands on the rest of Shepard's breasts

Liara could tell by Shepard's whimpers that she was getting heavily aroused and decided to turn things up a notch and pulled down Shepard's trousers and underwear and knelt before her. She smiled up at Shepard before using 2 of her fingers to part Shepard's petals before sticking her tongue into Shepard's moist clit. Shepard grasped the wall as her lover was using her tongue to send her into ectasy, Liara could feel Shepard becoming more and more wet as she continued to use her tongue, but Liara had even more in mind. She got up from her knees as Shepard panted and put a finger on Shepard's lips and told her "stay right there" in a husky voice. Liara proceeded to take off her own clothing to reveal the strap-on that she was wearing and said in a domineering, but lustful voice, "now, human whore, service your Asari mistress" as she put her hands on Shepard's shoulders to very gently push her to her knees

Shepard took the faux-flesh appendage in her hand ran her tongue along the shaft, in older models, so to speak, the wearer only felt sensation when the base was pushed back against their groin during intercourse, but this one had full sensitivity, Liara felt the same sensations a male would during this act. "Don't just tease it, put your lips around it", Liara softly said in anticipation, Shepard gave a lust filled smile before taking the appendage in her mouth. Liara gasped as she felt Shepard's mouth around her strap-on, Shepard continued to use her mouth to pleasure Liara. The only thing that the appendage couldn't do was ejaculate, although Liara intended to get one that could. Although it wasn't real and wasn't actually attached to her body, Shepard's oral administration to the appendage made Liara feel very real sensations of pleasure, she pressed her own breasts together and sighed as the pleasure mounted. She got impatient and lifted Shepard to her feet, then using biotics she lifted Shepard into a carry position and placed the appendage on Shepard's labia then trust it in, Shepard cried out with delight as it entered her and her labia walls tightened around it

Shepard wrapped her legs around Liara's waist and her arms around Liara's neck and began to scream out in ectasy as Liara thrust in and out of her, Liara lip locked with her to keep her from alerting the rest of the ship with her screams of desire. Shepard was completely submissive in Liara's arms as she carried Shepard on to the bed, placing herself on the bed with Shepard on top as she kept thrusting away as Shepard moved her body in rhythm to Liara's thrusts in her body. Shepard shouted out her climax, before she collapsed on to Liara in orgasmic exhaustion, she now submitted to her blue queen. Liara knew Shepard was now putty in her hands, but she also knew that despite her more dominant position, the reverse was also true. They both knew that in the centuries to come, should they survive, that although they would always be 2 seperate individuals, they would each become a blending of the two, at least mentally, they would be themselves and each other

Shepard lay beside Liara curled in to her with one arm placed on Liara's body, her eyes looking up at her most cherished like rubies glowing in the dark and darkness was something that made it's way too often into their lives and would continue to do so as the war was still being fought. The promise of a life together was the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel that they would fight for, they would not be denied. They fell asleep, each with a smile of contentment on their faces, they would be awoken in the morning to EDI coming through the com-link, "Commander Shepard, we received a special communication from Councillor Tevos, she wants to meet you in her office, Shepard replied "me and Liara will head right there when we dock at the Citadel", EDI then informed them "Councillor Tevos was quite insistent it would be you alone",. Shepard thanked EDI and closed off the com, she turned to Liara with a puzzled look, "I wonder why she insists on seeing me on my own"

Liara was equally puzzled at this request from the councillor, they had always met up with her together, but now she wanted to meet only Shepard and Shepard alone. Why?, was the question on Liara's mind, what could be so important that she couldn't join Shepard to meet Tevos? They both got out the bed and got themselves ready, Shepard to order Joker to set a course back to the Citadel and Liara to go to her office to check on any resources that the Shadow Broker network might have that could shed any light on this situation. There was something big going on, more than the obvious and she needed to find out the details, Shepard had made her way to the CIC to order Joker to set a course for the Citadel, she was as curious as Liara about the councillor's need to see her privately. The Normandy approached docking bay D 24, soon she would find out the reason for the councillor's request


	58. Confidential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard meets with Tevos

Shepard made her way to Tevos's office, which was unusually quiet, no secretarial staff or assistants working near by as they would usually be. Tevos greeted Shepard at the door, "you are alone?" she enquired, Shepard told her that she was and Tevos told her to come in. Tevos began, "the Reapers have finally reached Thessia", Shepard was a little perplexed, "I don't understand, why not have Liara here as well?" It was now that Tevos got to crux of why she summoned Shepard, "because I have something to tell you that cannot be directly told to any member of the Asari populace and must be told in the strict confidence, yes, I know that Dr.T'Soni will somehow learn of it, but it cannot come directly from this office". Shepard was intrigued as Tevos continued, "we understand that you are missing a piece for a weapon you call the Crucible, a piece you call the catalyst"

Shepard was intrigued "you know where it is?", Tevos replied "not exactly, but we have an artifact in Armali that might be able to help", "councilor, why did you tell us of this earlier?, "because there is a balance of power in the galaxy we don't wish to disturb", [yeah, with humanity as helpless beggars, if most of your political type got their way], Shepard thought. Shepard knew that Tevos didn't think this way and that she would never view non humans with contempt like Cerberus or their ilk did, but she was no fool, she knew that many in the galactic community would love to see humans 'in their place', it was the reason why groups like Cerberus were able to recruit the people they were. Cerberus wasn't full of yokel jingoists like the Alliance and Council propaganda liked to portray and a good deal of them initially had no real problems with humanity, her year on the Collector mission had taught her that. That was not to say they weren't bigoted louts in Cerberus, because they were, but Cerberus was able to recruit some of the best minds and best hearts that humanity could offer and that was because of the shoddy treatment humans sometimes got from the Citadel.

But now, Cerberus was now full of the indoctrinated and Reaper creatures, what they were, for good or bad, and it was mostly bad, was gone, they no longer represented humanity in any way, despite the delusions of the Illusive Man. Shepard continued to listen to Tevos, "the co-ordinates I am giving is for a place called Outpost Tykis, the scientists there should be able to guide you to the artifact", Shepard thanked the councillor, but Tevos just replied "in truth, the matriarchs are getting desperate, we need this Crucible to work, it may be the only thing that will prevent our destruction". Shepard immediately cancelled all shore leave and ordered everyone back to the Normandy, Liara asked "siame, what's going on?", Shepard just ignored her, highly unusual behaviour for her that meant something was wrong. When she finally got to the CIC, she ordered Joker, "Parnitha System, maximum speed"

When she heard Shepard give Joker that order, Liara's request became a demand, "siame, I need to know, now", Shepard replied "I need to see you and Shi'ala in your office". They quickly made their way to Liara's office on the crew deck and once inside Liara ordered the door sealed and Shepard began to tell them, "the Reapers have reached Thessia". The colour went out of both Liara and Shi'ala they heard that, but Shepard was not yet done, "but that is not the reason I want to talk to you, the reason is that Councillor Tevos has informed me of the existence of an artifact that might help us with the location of the Catalyst". Liara shot up, "where did she say it was?", Shepard answered "in Armali, in a place called Outpost Tykis, she gave me co-ordinates as to where to meet some scientists", "quickly, siame, give me these co-ordinates, now"

Liara scanned over the co-ordinates given to Shepard by the councillor, "siame, these cordinates would seem to place us at the Temple of Athame", "a religious site" asked Shepard, "yes, it was a main site for the old religion, very few still practice it", "ok, Liara, so what would something that might have something to do with the Catalyst be doing at such a place?, "I don't know, siame". Shi'ala was equally intrigued by this, she wanted to know more about this, she wanted to know what possibly could be there at the half forgotten temple. She told Shepard that she wanted to be on the squad on the mission to the temple and Shepard agreed, they would also take Vega with them as his heavy weaponry would probably be needed to cut through the hordes of Reaper creatures that most likely would be there when they landed on the surface of Thessia


	59. Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission on Thessia

The shuttle came into land on the war torn surface of Thessia, Reaper ships cpould be seen flying or more like floating in Thessia's skies while their creatures could be seen tearing up the surface. This was almost too much for Liara to bear, "those bastards are taking everything away from me, first my mother, then my siame and now my home", Shepard tried to get Liara to calm down and focus, "hey, hey, I came back and the Reapers haven't taken your home yet". The shuttle soon landed near to an outpost under seige, "MY HOME", Liara cried out on seeing the damage, Vega then called, "WE CAN'T STAY HERE, WE'VE GOTTA GET DOWN THERE". There were loud explosion and heavy gunfire as the outpost defended itself against the Reaper onslaught with Loud shouts from the commanding officer shouting out orders. Shepard ran up to the officer who turned around to Shepard, "ah, you must be Commander Shepard, I am Lieutenant Kurin, we......", she interrupted by a large explosion which killed several of her troops manning a gun implacement. Kurin shouted out, "we need to talk later, man that gun"

Shepard climbed up to the gun installation and started to open fire on the Reaper creatures attqcking the outpost, they were Husks and Brutes, melee creatures not much of a problem for the turret, but Shepard knew that these were just the tip of the iceberg of what was to come. The only other problem was that some of them, especially the Brutes could potentially make it past the turrett and start to pound on the biotic barriers that some of the Asari had errected. Shepard could hear the sounds of strain coming from the Asari that were maintaining the barriers, so she aimed the turrett at the rampaging creatures and let rip, the Husks could climb out of anywhere on to the bridge and Shepard had to quickly swing the turrett to where they were coming from, the Brutes on the other hand only hqd one point ov access on to the bridge and were more easy to predict. The brutes however were far more endurable than the Husks and it took a lot more for the turrett to put them down and they could make a speedy charge at the barrier and do a good deal of damage with the large claw on their right arms, the Husks and Bruted might have been the simplest of the Reaper creatures, but the differring methodologies of attack, despite both being simplistic, in such a tight environment, meant that Shepard had to constantly have to change tact to deal with a constantly changing form of offence

The skirmish was tight, but it was soon over and there was a brief pause in the fighting to allow for a talk with Lieutenant Kurin, she was ordering that a Mantis gunship be launched as Shepard reapproached her "Lieutenant Kurin, we need your help getting to Outpost Tykis", Kurin answered her as she continued to shout orders at her troops, "Commander Shepard, I don't know you, only your reputation, why should I risk my troops on this errand", "because Lieutenant Kurin, I was sent here by Councillor Tevos to retrieve an artifact from the outpost". Kurin was surprised, "this is what all this is about an artifact?", "it's not just an artifact, it could bring an end to the war and finally end the Reapers". Kurin looked thoughtful then said "be that as it may, but we have sustained too many losses to continue fighting and we are pulling out, Liara had been tending to some fallen and injured Asari had been listening to the exchange between Shepard and Kurin and came over to Kurin, "Lieutenant, please look around you, we are looking at the extinction of our entire species if we don't get to that outpost, please you must help, Liara pleaded with the commando leader

The scene was getting desperate, there was no way that the outpost could realistically be continued to be defended and Kurin knew it, she said to Liara, "alright, I'll help you get to to Outpost Tykis" she then turned to her squad "you 3 with me, the rest of you, fall back". The seven of them then headed to cross the bridge, "let's head out" Shepard ordered, it wasn't long before they were under attack again, this time by Cannibals and Maurauders, Shepard shouted out "find cover", they dived behind the small pillars that were at the sides of the bridge and exchanged fire with the Reaper creatures. "Stay in cover", Shepard ordered the squad, Vega was using his Typhoon to put down some suppressing fire while one of the commandoes fired up a Warp at one of the Cannibals, while another followed it up with a Throw to create a biotic explosion that managed to take many of them out, but not all of them. The commandoes were capable of much greater biotic combinations, but the lack of manueverability limited what they could perform. Vega then shot out a Carnage and Shepard followed it up with an Overload causing a detonation dispatching the remaining creatures

They crossed the bridge and through a destroyed building, Liara couldn't help but morose over the devastation that the Reapers were causing her world, Shepard talked to her through the link [don't fret, ceart-leth, we''ll soon put a stop to these bastards, when we get this artifact]. Liara could feel the warmth coming over the link, it kept her feeling optimistic despite the devastation all around her, it was why despite not being of a militaristic bent she was able to keep so level headed and focused through this war. Shepard also got focus and purpose through the link, she got the focus of the possibility of a peaceful future with Liara and the purpose of making sure that was going to happen, and come fire, come ice, it was going to happen. Vega wanted to train as a N7 when the war was over, but he also was also contemplating what his priest once told him, that the skies were chocked full with angels and he was glad that the old priest was no longer around to see that the skies that he had talked happily about were now filled with devils. Each member of the squad had their thoughts and feelings about the destruction around them


	60. City Seige

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad makes it into the city

They soon got through the rubble and into one of the cities plaza's where they saw a group of commando's on one of the roof tops being killed by a blast from a Harvester, "no, those bastards", Liara cried out, Shepard responded, "I am sorry, Liara, but we have to move on or we're all dead", "those things are slaughtering my people", "I know, ceart-leth, I know". Kurin cut in, "Shepard's right, we have to cut through or we're all dead", as she said that a host of Marauders and Cannibals opened fire on the team, forcing them to seek cover. "DON'T LET THEM GET BEHIND US", roared out Shepard as she watched the mindless horde open fire on her team, she felt some kind of horrible relief that with the exception of the landing zone, that none of the creatures that had attacked them had originally been her people, then she remembered the Cannibals. The main part of a Cannibal had been a Batarian, but the oversized right arm was a human corpse, most likely a childs, this made her lash out with her Hurricane at the creatures and using her Overload to cut the shields of the Marauders, allowing the rest of the team to have an easier time with them

However an easier time didn't mean that the fight would now be easy as the squad still had to shoot from cover to avoid the hail of fire coming from Cannibals and Marauders. One of the commandoes noticed Ravager egg sacs placed in the area and started blasting them when she got the opportunity between fighting off the Reaper creatures, she called over to the rest of the squad to watch out for more of the sacs. The team managed to put the last of the creatures and made their way to an exit, "through this door, it looks like an exit", Liara called out, but as they approached the door, it suddenly exploded with a Banshee, flanked by 2 Marauders, appeared making Liara's blood run cold. Vega and 2 of the commandoes worked on the Marauders, with the commandoes using their biotics to strip the Marauders shields and Vega using his Typhoon cut them down. This left the Banshee to the others, Shepard used her Overload in conjuction with Kurin's Pull to wear down the Banshee's barrier, but they had to keep on the move as the Banshee was biotically hopping all over the plaza. Shepard panicked when the creature used a Barrier Burst to force Liara out of cover

"LIARA", Shepard screamed as she saw her stunned Promised staggering after being hit by the blast, the Banshee only need one more hop to at Liara's position, so Shepard cast out a Pull to grab Liara to her side while the others blasted on the Banshee. "Are you alright, ceart-leth?", Shepard asked with her heart in her throat, to took a moment for Liara to recover, "I am fine, siame, that thing took me by surprise, that's all". They felt a moments relief that each other was safe before moving on through the blasted door, as they climbed through the rubble of another ruined building Liara made a comment about the Banshee, "I can't stand these things, my own people". Vega reacted by saying, "the bastards love turning our own againt us, they must think it messes with our minds", Shepard answered Vega, "I don't think they think like that, lieutenant, they just see us as another resource to be exploited", "yeah, maybe, lola, but it's still sick", "yeah, I know and that it is why we've gotta stop them". They spotted a Reaper capital ship 'walking' across the cityscape as they made their way to their objective, Vega let out with, "my old priest used to say that the skies are chocked full of angels, I am glad he didn't live to see this"

They spotted an Asari sniper nest and help the Asari snipers obliterate the Marauders and Cannibals that were gathering blow in a garden square below. The combined firepower made short work of the creatures before the squad moved on with their objective, they sotted the Reaper ship from before firing upon a skyscraper, destroying the building that had probably stood for centuries, Liara bemoaned, "all this destruction and for what, order?, it seems that it will just continue", Shepard replied, "the hell it won't, we putting an end to those fucking things". A young Asari was running towards them when Kurin caught the young maiden, Kurin ordered the maiden, "tell us the situation", the maiden replied, "we were overwhelmed, the Reapers obliterated us". Kurin noticed a large number of Reaper troops, Marauders, Cannibals, Ravagers and Sabouters all lead by a single Banshee on the walkway to the outpost, Kurin ordered the maiden to order an airstrike. The maiden gave her reservations, but complied with the order. A pair of Mantis gunships appeared to make short work of the creatures below them, unfortunately a Ravager managed to get a lucky shot on one of the gunships causing it to crash into one of the buildings, but the objective had been completed

Kurin ordered the maiden to join them as they made their way to the walkway, they were escorted by the surviving gunship, which blasted any Reaper creatures that impeded them. That was until a pair of Harvesters showed up and started opening fire, the gunship took a hit and called out to the squad, "I have been hit, Talon 5 going down", they watched as the gunship spiraled down and exploded leaving the team to be pinned down by the Harvesters that were joined by a pair of Ravagers. Shepard order the squad, "on each break, open fire, first on the Ravagers", the Ravagers had heavy duty firepower, but were considerably weak and were taken out with the first volley, the Harvesters were far more tougher and kept the squad pinned down as they relentlessly continued to fire upon them. It took many open breaks for the team to hit just one of the Harvesters enough to destroy it, but it was immediately replaced by another dampening the spirits of the squad. The squad couldn't move as the Harvesters continued to fire upon them, vortunztely a new pair of gunships arrived to draw the Harvesters away, Shepard ordered, "now's our chance, let's get to that outpost", befor any more Harvesters could appear they all quickly made it to the outpost


	61. The Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad make it to their objective

The squad made it


End file.
